


Heart Attack

by heuningkai



Category: TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Angst, Emotional, Falling In Love, Fluff, Humor, Hurt and comfort, M/M, Medical Student Choi Soobin, Music Teacher Huening Kai, Slow Burn, Unrequited Love, everyone is pan, soogyu, sookai, taejun
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2020-03-30 20:42:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 32,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19035247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heuningkai/pseuds/heuningkai
Summary: At a friend’s urging, 24-year-old philophobic music teacher Huening Kai begrudgingly attends a Valentine’s day speeding event. There he meets Choi Soobin, a 26-year-old medical student who just got out of a bad relationship looking for something more casual.--Summary for the most recent chapter:Soobin comes clean to Kai about what happened between him and Beomgyu. Tensions rise higher between Taehyun and Yeonjun as the big show comes near. Beomgyu and Soobin both reflect on their pasts and future with each other.





	1. The Beginning

“Kai come here quick!” Taehyun yells at his friend who’s currently sprawled out on the couch in their shared apartment. Being childhood best friends, they’re thankful to have made their dream of living in an apartment together a reality. The apartment fortunately was not that expensive and Taehyun’s job as an assistant to a professional entertainer and Kai as a music school teacher thankfully pay their dues. It was sheer luck that it was located deep in the city, close to their jobs.

He readjusts his phone in his hand and calls out Kai for the second time who gives him nothing but silence. Taehyun sighs and stands up to go to his sleeping friend instead. He enters the living room to see two feet poking out of the edge of the sofa so he decides to mess with him and pulls his feet down hard, effectively waking up the tall figure.

Kai adjusts his curls in front of his eyes and opens them slowly, glaring at his grinning friend at the edge of the couch. “What the hell, Hyunnie?” Kai slowly sits properly on the couch and readjusts his hoodie. Taehyun plops down next to him and shoves his phone in Kai’s face.

“Shut up and take a look at this.” A mixture of pink, red and white colors clouds his vision for a second before his eyes focuses on the bold text written in all caps.

“ **‘HEART ATTACK’** _A QUICK FUN WAY TO FIND LOVE THIS VALENTINES DAY_ ”

Kai rolls his eyes at Taehyun. “A ‘singles’ event? Really, Hyunnie?” He sighs and faces his friend, “You’re planning on joining this event? This sounds so cheesy and dumb, dude. And most importantly, so so desperate.” He snickers giving Taehyun his phone back.

Taehyun smiles and shakes his head. “No no no, my stupid friend, I am signing YOU up for this.”

Kai started laughing harder, still not believing his friend as he moved to the other side of the couch. “Oh… right because you already have your ‘cute’ and ‘sexy’ boss at your job.” Taehyun hit his feet with a pillow.

“Shut up, I don’t like him okay it’s just a tiny crush. He’s mean and annoying anyways.” Taehyun lets out a smirk, “Besides, I’ve already done the courtesy of signing you up for the event.”

“TAEHYUN!” Kai screeches as Taehyun quickly jumps up and gets chased around their apartment. Kai’s eyes are flaring with anger as he manages to catch up to Taehyun and give him a small beating.

Once they finally return to the couch with Kai leaving small bruises on Taehyun’s arm, he looks at his still grinning friend “Okay, first of all, fuck you. Second of all, as if I’m going to this event. Going to these kinds of ‘singles’ only events is like the saddest shit ever. It basically means you’ve given up on truly finding the one and instead you’re just looking for an easy fling.”

Taehyun sighs and faces his friend. “Kai, I’m doing this for you, you know? I’m sick and tired of your annoying ass moping around in our apartment because you have no one to love for…” Taehyun giggles and points to himself. “…well, except for me but I don’t count.”

Kai groans and lets his head fall back into the arm rest. “You know I’m not good at relationships, right? I literally have never been in one before and now you’re making me do this—weird speed dating or whatever event.”

Kai thinks about the time when he confessed to his crushes, only to be met with humiliation when the whole school knew he got rejected. Being a shy teen, it took guts for him to confess and when the whole school made fun of him when got rejected, it completely changed his outlook on relationships. They had called him pathetic, a loser and that’s how he started seeing himself in a different way.

He was young and easily impressionable so he kept seeing himself as unlikable, someone who can’t be loved. Now, he’s 24 years old and hasn’t tried loving again since, and instead busies himself with his work or music and avoids any sort of romantic involvement with anyone.

“Hey.” Taehyun scoots closer and brings Kai to the same level as him again.

“I want you to be happy. What happened in the past shouldn’t hinder you from being happy in the present.” He continues as Kai looks up at him, “I know you can do this Kai, it’s gonna be very difficult at first I’m not gonna lie but this is the perfect time to open up your heart again.” Taehyun smiled at him hopefully.

There’s silence between them as Kai thinks it over before he rolls his eyes at Taehyun, “Okay okay just stop talking. Jeez, since when were you this emotional and cheezy—” His rant was cut off short when Taehyun shoved a pillow in his face.

“Shut up dickhead, just be thankful I’m your friend. Now go out and buy us some bandaids. My arm hurts like hell. Oh, and some more milk because we’re all out.”

Kai smiles sheepishly, “Sorry again for hitting you. By the way, what are your plans for Valentines day anyways?” Kai asks as he saw the faint blush on Taehyun’s cheeks.

“I—I um, my boss asked me to come help him build this set for one of his performances next week.” Taehyun looks down, hiding his reddening face from Kai.

Kai whistles at him, “He asked you out? Finally, my hyunnie will have a boyfriend. You know I’m sick of hearing his name while you sleep right?”

Taehyun’s eyes go wide as he splutters out a response, “W—What? I don’t do that, shut up!” But Kai was already one step ahead of him and pulls out his phone to show Taehyun a video from a couple of days ago of him sleep talking.

Taehyun feels his cheeks on fire seeing himself on screen mumbling his boss’s name.

“ _Yeonjun hyung..please stop that…it tickles…hyung please..”_ His voice comes out of the phone speaker as Kai stifles his laughter with his hand. “Aaaaa stop it! This is so humiliating.” Taehyun cries out as his friend laughs heartily beside him. 

Kai was a bit nervous but excited. This was it. He was finally going to try again. _'Let's just hope my heart doesn't get smashed this time.'_

* * *

“One more please!” Soobin calls out as he sets down his sixth bottle of beer on the table. Yeonjun shakes his head but smiles at his drunken friend as he sips from his own bottle.

It was Friday and they’re out in the bar. Yeonjun had just joined his friends recently after being away for a week. He was quite surprised to see his friend in such a state but after hearing about what happened to him, he was quite sympathetic.

“Dude you already had way too much!” Beomgyu shudders beside him, already stopping at two bottles as they had exams coming up and he didn’t want anything to distract him. He takes a long look at his grieving friend.

They had met a while ago when they both started medical school and for the longest time, he had a crush on him. He met Soobin when they were interviewed and there was just this bond between them that he couldn’t explain. It wasn’t long until they exchanged numbers, shared life stories and went to classes together. Beomgyu was thankful for him for being his rock through all the hardships they faced and are currently facing in medical school right now.  

Unfortunately, Soobin had a girlfriend and he couldn’t make a move. But now, after being together for 4 years, they broke up all of a sudden, leaving Soobin in a state of wanting to drink his pain away which is why Beomgyu wanted to be there for his friend. Be _his_ rock for a change.

“I don’t careee just shush and be a good frieenndddd…” Soobin slurs.

Yeonjun finally takes charge and caps him off for the night. “Alright buddy I think we have enough for tonight, no more drinking alright?” He grabs the half-empty bottle from Soobin’s hands and moves it away.

Soobin pouts and makes grabby hands at him, “Hyung! How dareee youuu…do you not want—” he hiccups, “me to forget about the _her_?” Soobin says bitterly.

Yeonjun sighs at him, “This won’t make you forget about the break up dummy, this will only give you a hangover tomorrow. Plus, this is the fifth time we’ve been in this bar for the past week. Surely you’ve already drunk all the alcohol you need to forget about her.”

Beomgyu puts his head in his hands, this really was the fifth time here and Soobin still hasn’t been better. Beomgyu initially thought that this was the time to make a move but then once he saw what state Soobin was in, his instincts came in to put his friend’s safety first before his intentions. Hearing a sniffle beside him, Beomgyu raised his head and saw Soobin start to cry.

“I—I just miss her so much…” He wipes his eyes with his sweater, “She didn’t even give me a warning. I was just dropped all of a sudden. 4 fucking years, just went down the drain. Like who the fuck does that?” He spat out angrily.  

Yeonjun rubs Soobin’s back as he cried more. “That bitch didn’t deserve you. You hear me? She let go one of the most amazing, kind, caring and loving people. It’s her loss not yours, okay?” Beomgyu was glad Yeonjun was there with them.

Yeonjun and Soobin had been childhood best friends, and while Soobin went to medical school Yeonjun was spotted by someone and became a professional entertainer, performing in shows all around their city. He had been lucky enough to join his friends after being busy with the shows for a while.

Soobin nods and blows his nose into a tissue. “Thanks, hyung, I just—I need to do something else to help me get over this break up.”

Yeonjun raises his eyebrows, “How ‘bout a rebound?” Beomgyu’s ears peaked in interest. He had thought about it but he didn’t want to be a rebound to Soobin. He wanted them to be together for a long time, not just temporarily. He suddenly remembered this advert he came across a while ago.

“Hey, I found this event that you can join.” Beomgyu says as he pulls out his phone.

Soobin looks at him curiously, “What is it about?”

“You basically do this speed date thing and helps you find someone to spend your Valentine’s with. Which means you’d have a chance on meeting someone nice there, for you to rebound to.” Beomgyu grins at him. “And no, I am not joining this event, I have other things planned for Valentine’s day which includes a huge stack of books for next week’s exam.” Beomgyu added as Soobin groaned in response. _‘Shit I have exams coming up.’_

“Oh, I’ve heard of that event from my assistant too! He said he was planning on signing his friend up on that.” Yeonjun smiles.

Beomgyu picks up on this and teases him, “Oh hyung, is this the one you’ve been calling cute then?” He snickers at Yeonjun’s slowly reddening face. “Fuck off, I don’t like him. I just like him teasing him. He just… gets so mad easily, it’s funny. Also, he stares at me sometimes, I don’t know why.”

Soobin cracks a smile at his oblivious friend, “I think he likes you hyung. Did you give him the day off on Valentine’s day?”

Yeonjun scoffs, “What? Of course not. We have to build this set for my performance next week. It’s probably just gonna be me and him back at the building.”

Soobin and Beomgyu share a look, “Hyung…make sure you use protection okay and be gentle with him.” Beomgyu jokes, laughing at Yeonjun’s shocked face. Soobin finally laughs for the first time that night so Yeonjun isn't too mad.

“Gyu! You little shit.” He gives him a little slap on the arm, “It’s not a date! It’s work. Nothing is going to happen probably. I don’t even like him, especially his stupid cute eyes and perfect nose.” Yeonjun mumbles, burying his mouth in his bottle.

Beomgyu shrugs and smiles at him knowingly, “Mhm sure hyung. Keep telling yourself that.”

Yeonjun sticks out his tongue at his friend as he passes the phone to Soobin. “Okay, so back to the speed event thing.”

Soobin’s eyes scan the screen. “ **‘HEART ATTACK’** _A QUICK FUN WAY TO FIND LOVE THIS VALENTINES DAY_ ”

Soobin groans and crumpled his nose, “Really, Gyu? Why do I have to go to all this trouble if I’m just gonna need a rebound?”

Beomgyu rolled his eyes, “You and I both know that you aren’t that good with people you don’t have a connection to. It’s literally harmless. It won’t hurt to try it yknow?” Yeonjun nodded and agreed with Beomgyu, “Yeah Binnie, you might find your soulmate there yknow.”

Beomgyu’s eye twitched. _‘I’m hoping this won’t bite me in the ass later.’_ He thought. Once Soobin got over his break up and the rebound, he might be able to make a move on him and they’ll finally be together.

Soobin snorted, “As if. For now, I am done with relationships. I’ll be a player, a bad boy. You’ll be seeing me with someone new each week—” He continues as he ignores his friends making fake-puking noises at him, “—starting with this Valentine’s day event.”

Yeonjun shushed him down, “Okay okay Romeo, now can we go back to your apartment? You promised we’d play video games. It’s been a while yknow.”

Soobin smiled at his friends and pulled out his wallet to pay the bills. “Fine! But hyung, you have to treat us tomorrow if you lose, right Gyu?” he smiles wide at Beomgyu.

Beomgyu smiles back, his heart beating faster, “Of course we’ll beat his ass. The two of us makes the best team!”

The three of them laughs at each other before standing up and leaving the bar as they make way to Soobin’s apartment he shares with Yeonjun. Soobin was excited. This could be the start of something new. A fresh new start. _'I'm gonna get over her. I WILL be happy again.'_


	2. The Past and Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huening Kai recollects his past and the real reason why he's so afraid of love. In the event, he meets two people, someone he was trying to forget and the other, someone he wants to get to know. Yeonjun looks back to when he first met Taehyun and thinks about the future of their relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello my loves! I'm back with another chapter. Since you guys left so many nice replies in my last one I decided to give you an extra long one. This is a really emotional chapter, I really hope you guys like it. I like writing backstories because it makes the character seem more real so I hope you connect with them more. <3
> 
> -J

Kai wakes up with a jolt. ‘ _Shit_ ’ he thinks as he looks at the date and time on his phone. He’s about to be late. It’s finally Valentine’s day which means today is the day of the speed date event and he couldn’t be more nervous.

He slowly scrambles out of bed and walks into their bathroom. He faces himself in the mirror and judges his disheveled appearance. He had hair sticking out from all places, eyebags, and he recently got a cut on his lip. In other words, he was a mess.

He quickly splashes his face with water, cringing at how cold it is. He faces himself again, this time with a more wet exterior and takes a deep breath, “Kai. Dude. You can do this. Things might not be good for you romantically wise but I know you can do this. At least starting with this speed date… Ugh why did Hyunnie force us to do this.” He groans.

Kai thinks back to a few days ago when he lied to Taehyun again. It wasn’t just the failed possible girlfriends that stunted his romantic growth but it stems back far back into their childhood.

Kai didn’t have the best parents. He only had a mom. When he asked where his dad was, she would always come up with different stories. _‘He’s working abroad.’ ‘He’s doing important work outside of the city.’ ‘He’s going to visit soon.’_

On his 7th birthday party, Kai was curious again. It had been a stressful day for them, his mom and grandmother had another fight, but Kai was curious to when his dad was coming to visit him anyways.

 _‘Mom, when is dad coming home?’_ he asked his mother who was currently sprawled out in the couch, drinking out of a half empty bottle of wine.

His mother looked at him strangely, ‘He doesn’t want to see you, you idiot. You were a mistake. You should have never been born.’ She slurs out before passing out. Kai felt his tiny heart broke. His own dad didn’t want to see him? Does he not love him? He cried himself to sleep that night knowing one of the most important people in his life didn’t love him.

That’s why he was determined to make his mom love him. He started being extra nice to her, giving her letters and making her drawings but he would always find them in the trash can a few hours later.

Then one day, he heard his mom and grandmother arguing one night.

 _‘Mom, I need you to take care of him. I don’t want him anymore. I should have aborted him when I got the chance!’_ his mom said, sounding distressed.

 _‘How dare you say that about your son! You made that decision with your piece of shit of a boyfriend to not use a condom. You can’t just backtrack on something like that!’_ he heard his Grandma yell back.

 _‘I’m going away. The agency called. They told me I’m getting an audition. I might actually make it and make my dreams come true. A child would just slow me down.'_  She says back to his grandma, _“Tell him I died or something, I don’t fucking care anymore, I just wanna be far away from him as possible.’_ His mom said, with no hesitation.

Kai slumped down on the wall. He faced the ground emotionless, the voices in the background slowly becoming noise as he tries to understand the situation. The next morning, his mom was gone. His grandmother had told him tearfully that she had to leave abroad for an important job and wouldn’t be back for a while.

But Kai knew what the truth was.

Kai just nodded sadly at her. His parents didn’t love him. Probably never did. He was unlovable. All he had was his grandma now. But then on his 9th birthday, he had to go to his aunt because his grandma was moving to a home for old people. His aunt lived in the other side of the country, but at least she wasn’t as terrible as her mother.

His aunt treated him normally as if he was one of her children. He liked his new home. His cousins would be mean to him sometimes calling him adopted but at least someone cared for him.

That was also where he met Taehyun. He had been playing with his cousins outside when suddenly they pushed him on the ground and broke his toy. Kai cried loudly looking at the broken pieces on the ground.

 _‘Hey, are you okay?’_ He looked up and saw a boy with large enchanting eyes and soft brown hair. He extended his hand down to Kai and helped him get back up. Kai told him what happened and ever since then he had promised to protect Kai from anyone that bullies him. He still protects him now which is why he is so grateful to have someone like Taehyun as his best friend.

Which is exactly why he felt bad for lying about his past to Taehyun. He didn’t want him to pity him more. He wanted Taehyun to think he was strong, and not that little crying boy who needed protection. He’s scared what Taehyun will think of him once he knows the truth. Will he be mad? Will he be upset that Kai lied to him so many times? Kai clears out his thoughts and instead focuses on the Valentine’s day event.

He’s panicking again. He’s done this so many times you would think that he would have an idea on how to control it but he doesn’t. Instead he just lets his mind wander to his safe place until he calms down. He hates this. He hates feeling like falling in love will kill him. Like someone loving him back is just impossible. Kai splashed his face with water again, trying to empty his mind from any thoughts from his past.

He had ignored all of Taehyun’s suggestions on going to therapy, to talk to someone professional about his feelings. But Kai thinks this is all just temporary and most people go through it. He had recovered a bit from it now, so Kai was confident this would just all go away someday. Taehyun decided not to press on, knowing how sensitive Kai gets about seeking help from other people.

He grumbles and wipes his face with a towel, “I bet I won’t even meet anyone nice there, let alone my so called _‘soulmate’_.” He leaves the bathroom and walks back to his room to find something nice to change.

Kai wasn’t a super shy person when it comes to talking with friends and strangers but when it involves a possible date, he clams up and he forgets how to converse with another human being. He shudders thinking about his failed romances and puts on a blazer and some black jeans. _‘Hmm, this looks presentable enough.’_ he smiles, feeling a little bit more confident and struts into the living room.

Taehyun was already there sitting on the couch eating cereal and watching some weird show on Netflix. “Hey dude! Nice outfit. I just know you’re about to get _it_ tonight.” He laughs as he lowers the volume on the television.

Kai rolls his eyes, “If you don’t shut up, I swear to god. I’m nervous already as it is, I have no time to think about _you know what_.” He cringes at his words and picks up his own bowl of cereal.

Taehyun shrugs at him, “Don’t worry dude. You’ll do fine. You know what to say already right?”

Kai drops his spoon to the ground. _‘Shit. I forgot to prepare what I should say to the person.’_ he mentally slapped himself. “Uh… not exactly.”

His friend shakes his head and sighs, “Of course you didn’t. Now come here and let me help you.” He pats the empty seat beside him as Kai groans before plopping down.

“Look,” Taehyun starts, “Everyone loves music. Y’know, just… talk about your music, talk about how you play the piano and how you express with it and all that shit. Chicks _love_ those dumb stuff.” Taehyun continues, “Also, ask them a lot of questions, they love hearing guys being interested in them. Just make sure you nod along and say a word of affirmation or two that you’re listening and you’re good to go!”

Kai nods, “You’re right! Okay okay. Thanks, Hyunnie you’re finally useful for once.” He giggles as he tries to avoid the cereal thrown at him.

“Hyunnie, isn’t it time for your date as well with,” Kai pauses to imitate his friend “ _Yeonjun hyung...”_

Taehyun growls at his friend, kicking him in the feet. “Fuck you Kai. It isn’t a date. I’m just going to help him build.”

“Yeah, help him build his stuff _real_ good.” Kai teases, his eyebrows wiggling along to his words.

Taehyun’s mouth gaped open in shock, “Kai you are only a baby! How dare you think stuff like that?”

Kai rolls his eyes, “Dude I’m 24, I obviously know about the birds and the bees already. Just be careful okay? Don’t do anything you don’t want to. It _is_ Valentine’s day, a romantic day, a quiet setting with only the two of you alone. Anything can happen.” He winks at his still in-shock friend and stands up to start heading to the door.

“Have fun Hyunnie,” Kai, still giggling at this speechless friend, steps out the door, and makes his way to the Valentine’s day speeding event.

Taehyun is left at the apartment wondering if Yeonjun thought it was a date. ‘How can building something be considered a date?’ He shakes his head at how stupid he’s being. ‘Of course, it’s not a date. Yeonjun probably doesn’t even like guys. I’ve always seen him look at girls and never at guys.’

Taehyun checks the time and realizes its almost time to go to work so he finishes his bowl of cereal and faces a reality of being with Yeonjun all alone.

* * *

 

Yeonjun sits at his chair, looking at the bits and pieces of equipment on the floor. They had to build it before next Friday which is when they will perform. He decided to build it himself to save costs since most of his crew was busy on Valentine’s day, all except for one person, Kang Taehyun.

He thinks back to meeting Taehyun for the first time. He had just finished performing one of his musical shows and as the crowd was clearing up to go outside, he found someone struggling to get through the crowd to reach him. Yeonjun decided to help the kid out and move closer to him.

“Um…Hello Mr. Choi! Sorry to bother you and I know you must be tired and all but I just wanted to tell you how much of an inspiration you are to me.” Taehyun gushes.

Yeonjun feels his cheeks heating up, “Thank you so much. It means a lot. I actually had such a difficult time in getting to where I am now, like I had to make a lot of sacrifices and give up a few things but thankfully it all worked out.” He grins at the boy in awe in front of him. “So, what’s your name?”

“Kang Taehyun, sir. I’m 21 years old, and I’m about to graduate soon at uni.” Taehyun smiles at him, “By the way, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, kid. Shoot.” Yeonjun sits down on the chair and motions Taehyun to do the same.

Taehyun shyly looks down at his shoes and tells Yeonjun, “Being up on a stage at only 25 years old is just…extraordinary. I can only dream of something like that. I’m planning to be a performer myself but I’m… afraid I don’t know a lot of things went it comes to these kinds of things and I was kind of wondering if you uh would be willing to like tutor me or give me advice?” Taehyun looks up at Yeonjun full of hope in his eyes.

Yeonjun couldn’t help but feel sorry for the kid. Him getting up on stage was of pure luck. He had been discovered by some company, he’s not sure everyone would be getting the same luck though. He decides to give Taehyun a chance and maybe he’ll be able to perform with him someday.

“Well my assistant did just quit not too long ago. Are you willing to be sort of an assistant to me? I’ll pay you and also give you advice.” Yeonjun proposes. Taehyun’s eyes opened wide. _‘He has such beautiful eyes.’_ Yeonjun thought for a moment before snapping back to reality.

“It would be an honor Mr. Choi, thank you so much!” Taehyun’s smiles so wide, his eyes almost disappear. Yeonjun feels his heart beat quickening. “Please, call me Yeonjun.” He extends his hand and shakes hands with Taehyun. That was the start of a long and beautiful sort-of-friendship.

Throughout the years they’ve worked together, Taehyun realizes why his assistants kept on quitting on him. He was almost unbearable to work with at times. Yeonjun had to hire a second assistant while Taehyun was still in college and he had probably hired around 7 assistants the whole time he was finishing school. With all of them quitting only a few months after. Now that Taehyun had graduated and was now working full time for Yeonjun, he realized how much of a jerk he is. A stupid, hot and annoying jerk.

Taehyun didn’t know when it started but he had started to develop a crush on his boss. He’s a bit ashamed of it but Taehyun kinda liked when Yeonjun gets bossy with him. He knows it’s a bit sick to be thinking of your boss like that so he kept on shoving those feelings down. Plus, there was no way he would want to be in a relationship with someone like him.

So, when Yeonjun scolds Taehyun for being late on Valentine’s day, Taehyun just apologizes and goes straight to working instead, making sure that everything will be strictly professional that day. Taehyun also decides to ignores how Yeonjun stared at him the whole time they were working together.

* * *

 

Soobin arrives at the event, dressed in semi-casual attire. He made sure that he didn’t dress up like he was there looking for anything serious. He sees the giant banner, the balloon hearts surrounding the area and the long table filled with valentine’s day themed snacks and nods his head in admiration.

“Wow, they really went all out on this event.” He murmurs to himself as he makes way to the registration table.

A very pretty girl sits behind the table and smiles at him, “Good Afternoon to you. Are you here for the Valentine’s day event?” Soobin smiles back, “Yes, my name is Choi Soobin.”

He sees the girl write something on the table, “Alright, here you go Mr. Choi,” She hands him a name card and a rose. “You can give that to whoever you meet by the end of today.” She gives him a wink as she calls out the person behind him to move forward.

Soobin steps out of the line and laughs to himself quietly at how cheesy and dumb this whole event is. He shrugs it off and plays along as he places his name tag on his chest. He then finds an empty chair and spends the remaining minutes on there reminiscing about his ex.

 _‘You’re gonna forget about her. You’re going to find someone new, and play around for a while. Nothing too serious. Nothing that reminds you of her.’_ He thinks to himself.

Suddenly, the intercom turns on and a loud voice boomed throughout the area.

“Good Afternoon everyone! I will be your host for today. I hope you all are ready to meet someone new and experience new things.” Soobin hears a few people groan in the crowd, he smiles to himself, _‘They must have been forced here too by their friends’_

“This event was designed for you to step out of your comfort zone and find a partner for you. You may or may not find the one in here but you may find something better. You may learn something from this or from your partner and apply that to your future relationships.”

The host continues, “We are all deserving of love—” Across the room, Huening Kai lets out a big sigh, “—and it’s something that requires work. Some people get lucky, some people are not. But we’re all the same in the end. We cannot survive without love. Therefore, I wish you all goodluck and a happy valentine’s day!” The crowd applauds him as he continues to speak to remind everyone about the mechanics of the event.

Soobin spaces out after his speech, _‘We’re all deserving of love’_ he quietly repeats in his mind. His mind wanders and he start to overthink all of this and whether or not he was truly deserving of love. He gave everything to his ex and she just threw all that away. _‘Am I truly unlovable?’_ he feels himself start to panic and tear up so he takes a few deep breaths in an attempt to get rid of his thoughts and focuses on the host.

“Alright, we will now begin the speed dating. Once again, goodluck!” The hosts exclaims before leaving the stage.

Soobin’s eyes bulges _. ‘Shit, I forgot to listen to the rules.’_ He curses himself, stands up and just follows his fellow applicants. ‘ _This is gonna be harder than I thought_ ’ he let out a sigh as he sits down with his first date.

* * *

 

Things haven’t been going well for Kai at the event. Well… that’s an understatement. It has been disastrous.

Kai stared anxiously at the blonde girl with thick makeup in front of him. Somehow, he had stumbled upon one his old classmates from highschool. One of his bullies to be more exact. She was one of the people who kept on embarrassing him at school. “So uh, what do you do for a living?” He asked politely, hoping the girl didn’t recognize her.

Fortunately, the girl didn’t seem to care for him. “I’m a dancer at a local…pub.”

“Oh that’s…nice. I am a uh music teacher from the local high school.” He smiled awkwardly as she nodded along. “So, uh what brings you here?” Kai asked, hoping the girl would contribute to the conversation as well.

“Wait.” The girl replied, smiling a bit strangely, “You seem kind of familiar…”

Kai looked at her nervously, “F—Familiar how?”

“You look like this guy I knew back in highschool.” The girl giggled, “He was kind of a sad and _desperate_ loser who thought someone would like him.” Kai realizes the girl finally recognized him.

Kai sighs. “What are you even doing here?” Kai asks bitterly, wondering how she could judge him like this when she’s going through the same thing.

The girl smirked, “My friend bet me $100 dollars to join this event. I was like _, ‘free money plus I get to laugh at all the losers here? I’m sold’._ ” Kai looks at her in disbelief.

“Now tell me Kai, why are _you_ here?” She asks, fiddling with her hair. Kai gulped down his nervousness, “My friend forced me here too. He wanted me to find someone nice.”

The blonde girl started laughing hard, “You think you’re going to find someone here? That’s so cute.” She says sarcastically, “You do know that most of these events are for hooking up right? You won’t find something real here.”

Kai opens his mouth in shock. He was not expecting his first date to go like this. “Why are you doing this to me?”

“I’m bored. This event isn’t really interesting. Did you hear the host’s speech? It was so cheesy and corny.” She shrugged. “Anyways, our time isn’t up yet, tell me about your life. Where are you from and why were you living with your aunt?”

Kai closes his eyes. He can’t believe this is who he got as his first date. He feels like he can’t breathe. He tries to answer her anyway so she doesn’t get suspicious, “My parents had to work abroad.” He lies.

The girl pouted, “Aw really because I heard from some rumor that you were left there by your mom because she didn’t want you or something.” She snickers, enjoying Kai’s face turning red.

“Your mom didn’t love you? That’s sad.” She continues as Kai starts to tremble in his seat. “Stop this please…” Kai whispers out, barely loud enough for anyone to hear and balls his fists. He can feel himself about to lose it.

The girl moves closer to him, “I don’t blame her. I wouldn’t want someone like you as my son as well.”

“I said STOP IT!” Kai brought his hands down on the table, snapping at her.

People from tables near them stopped talking with each other and looked at the pair in surprise.

The girl widened her eyes, “Okay calm down, people are watching. I was just messing around.”

“No, you know what? Fuck you. You haven’t changed a bit since high school. You’re still that dumb flirty bitch who can’t keep a boyfriend.” Kai spits out angrily.

“You know why they keep leaving you? Because of how insufferable you are. At least I’ve changed and I’m trying to make a difference in my life unlike you who thinks you’re already so perfect.” Kai looks at the girl, looking scared in her seat. “Well guess what, you dumb bitch? You’re nothing. You’re just a soul less person trying to feel something by doing meaningless shit like this but in the end, you have nothing to show for and you’re going to regret every second of your life once you’re old and dying.” Kai finishes, out of breath.

He looks at the people near their table, speechless at him. He hastily picks up his things and runs away to the comfort room.

He opens it with a bang and immediately runs to a stall. There, he cries his eyes out for a few moments, letting all these pent-up feelings out, tears of sadness and happiness mixing together. He had just stood up for himself and it felt amazing. This was something new, he had never done it before. It had always been Taehyun helping him out.

He stays there for a while before stepping out of the bathroom stall and faces his reflection in the mirror. It’s almost as if he’s looking at a new person. He then fixes himself up before going back to the event.

He may be proud of himself for that but let’s just say the people who watched him ‘shout’ at a girl like that wasn’t so fond of him. He barely got any dates after that fiasco and now people looked at him like he had committed a crime. If only they knew what really happened.

Kai hung his head in frustration. He’d been through 10 people so far, each going horribly. He didn’t really click with any of them. They either just came to him to tell him how much of a jerk he was to make that girl cry or they were just weirdos asking him if he was willing to join their pyramid scheme. Therefore, Kai decided to call it a day.

Even though he didn’t get any dates today, Kai was still proud he stood up for himself. He couldn’t wait to tell his best friend about this. He smiled to himself and started to clear his table and pack up his things when suddenly someone sat in front of him. He looked up and saw the most beautiful pair of brown eyes. Attached to the most stunning face, with irresistible cheeks, cute dimples, fluffy brown-orange hair and a killer smile.

But it was a guy. So why was he feeling butterflies in his stomach? Kai never really had any thoughts about guys so he wondered deeply as to why there was this sudden twist in his heart upon seeing the guy smile. Was he attracted to him?

“Um…C—can I help you?” he managed to choke out. The smiling guy extended his hand, waiting for Kai to take it.

Kai stared at the hand in front of him. He didn’t have any plans in meeting a guy today. In fact, he had no plans on meeting any guy ever. He was sure he’s straight… right? But then there was this sudden pull he felt, and now he couldn’t stop himself from grasping the other guy’s hand in his.

Then all of a sudden, the world stopped and all he thought about was how their hands fit perfectly.

“Hello, I’m Choi Soobin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our poor Huening Kai has been through a lot, right? Tell me what your thoughts are in the replies. I'm really really excited for the next chapter. It'll come out probably in Tuesday or Wednesday. <3 Thank you for reading :)
> 
> -J


	3. The Unexpected Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soobin and Kai finally meet and bond over their failed experiences at the event. Taehyun and Yeonjun takes their relationship to the next level.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'm back another long chapter. I hope you're enjoying the story so far, I know I'm having fun writing them. The updates might start getting slow once school starts next week so please leave me a kudos and a comment to give me strength haha <3 Hope you enjoy!
> 
> -J

Soobin found himself lost during the whole speed dating event. It was his fault anyways for not listening to the host when he was explaining the mechanics. Apparently, they had to pick a colored ribbon and this would allow people to filter out who they want to date with.

But unfortunately for Soobin he didn’t know which one was which so he just picked the same thing as the guy in front of him did. A purple ribbon. He didn’t know what it meant but girls were slowly starting to meet him so that must have meant that he picked correctly.

Everyone he met so far was none of the things he was looking for. They wanted commitment, devotion, a real relationship. But again, Soobin was there for only one thing: a rebound. After hearing what his reason was for joining the event, they just gave him disgusted or disappointed looks and left him alone.

Eventually, he found himself lost in thought again. This isn’t right. What he’s doing is a very unhealthy way to cope and move on. He should focus on himself instead, rather than hopping from one person to the next, hoping to feel even a fraction of what he felt with his ex.

Soobin groans into his hands, he needs to have a refresher. Standing up, he looks around the room when all of a sudden, his eyes falls upon the most gorgeous man he’s ever seen in his life.

Fluffy dark brown hair, a small face with a cute nose, beautiful eyes and the prettiest set of lips. He recognizes him as the man who made a commotion a while ago, he can’t help but be curious about what happened.

Soobin is stunned. He feels his heart pump faster. Is he attracted to this man _? ‘Attracted is an understatement’_ Soobin snorts, blushing a little bit. Being with his girlfriend for so long, he never really had any feelings for anyone else even including men.

He stares at the man who was just sitting there, looking as if he was also deep in thought like him and decides to approach him. Soobin’s heart almost stops when the man looks up at him. He was even more angelic up close.

“C—can I help you?” The cute guy asks, looking confused. He didn’t trust himself to speak right now so instead he went for a handshake.

Soobin swallows a gulp down his throat, flashes him a smile and extends his hand to him. Soobin gets a bit nervous as the guy took a while to clasp it, but as he was about to drop his hand out of pure embarrassment, a soft hand grabbed his, tight.

He lets out a sigh of relief and introduces himself, “Hello, I’m Choi Soobin.” He smiled and kept shaking the guys hand. He swears he thought he saw the other guy blush at that, “I’m Huening Kai, but you can call me Kai.” He smiles back.

They stare at each other for a while. Silently studying each other’s features, how every curve every line makes them even more beautiful. Kai looks down at their hands, they still haven’t let go.

“O—oh um, I’m sorry.” Kai laughs awkwardly, pulling his hand back. He thought he saw Soobin’s face look disappointed for a minute there.

“So, how are you doing?” Soobin asks, setting his hand back on the table. He looks at the guy and notices he had a blue ribbon.

“Oh um, I have the blue ribbon, sorry. I think you made a mistake.” Kai bites his tongue, why was he sending this guy away?

“Wait what does the blue ribbon mean again? I was busy when the host explained the mechanics.” Soobin smiles sheepishly.

Kai holds up his hand with the blue ribbon, “Blue means you’re after girls, red if you’re after guys and purple if you’re after both.” Kai looks at the purple ribbon on Soobin’s hand. “Did you pick the purple by mistake then?” he giggles at Soobin’s blushing face.

“I guess so. I joined this event looking for girls,” Soobin laughs with him, “But… I think I found someone better.” He says, looking directly at Kai.

Kai lets out a cough and averts his eyes somewhere else, praying that his face wasn’t too red.

“W—what do you mean? I’m not really um interested guys, I’m sorry.” Kai mentally slaps himself. He couldn’t stop his mouth from spouting nonsense. _‘I’m clearly interested in him, what am I doing?’_

Soobin’s face fell. “You want me to leave?” He pouts. _‘God that’s such a cute pout’_

Kai sits in silence. He had no idea what to do in this situation. Should he continue?

Soobin catches on and lets out a sigh, “Alright, I’ll leave you alone. I’m sorry again for disturbing you.”

He starts to stand up and turn his body when suddenly he feels a soft hand clutching his arm. He looks back to see Kai, almost in tears, “Stay. Please.”

Soobin takes Kai’s hand in his. “Wait, I’m confused now. Do you want me to go away or to stay?” He sits back down and faces Kai.

“I’m sorry. It’s just… been such a long day. I’m kind of on edge right now. Dates have been going so horrible for me and I should be thankful for meeting someone as nice as you. I mean, you’ve been nice _so far_.” Kai lets out a little laugh, enjoying the warmth they’re sharing between their clasped hands.

“Hey it’s alright. I’ve had a pretty rough day too. Do you want to talk about it?” Soobin asks, looking at him hopefully. He decides to rub his thumb around the top of Kai’s hand. _‘Gosh that feels nice…’_ Kai whimpers.

“You promise not to laugh and make fun of me?” Kai bites his lip. Soobin squeezes his hand, “I promise.”

Kai smiles at him. _‘What the hell am I doing?’_ Kai pushes any thoughts or overthinking and decides to just go with the flow for once.

“Okay so, this is gonna sound really lame but—” Kai sighs, closing his eyes, “I just—I’ve never been in a relationship before.” He says before slowly opening one his eyes to see Soobin’s reaction.

“What? No way! A cute guy like you must have been with at least a few people.” Soobin’s eyes widens. Did he just say that out loud?

 _‘Shit. He definitely heard that.’_ He realizes as he stares at Kai’s reddening face. “Oh um—sorry, continue your story.”

“O—okay so,” Kai continues, still a bit flustered from what Soobin said. “Basically, this was my first ever chance of rekindling that fire inside me that wanted to love and date people without fear or doubt.”

He mumbles, as if ashamed of how he’s feeling. “I just wanted to know if I was ready again for that but this whole experience just proved that I might not recover from my past for a while. Probably gonna die alone or something.” He looks down. “You might have seen me yell at that girl. It really wasn’t how it looked like. I don’t really want to talk about that right now though.”

Soobin plays with the tips Kai’s fingers to comfort him. “Hey, don’t worry about it, alright? I don’t know what happened in your past and you don’t have to tell me but you should at least be proud of yourself for actually trying and being brave enough to get back out there.” Soobin passionately tells him, looking straight into his eyes.

Kai feels tears about to spring up anytime, “Thank you, Soobin. That actually made me feel a lot better.”

Soobin was right.

At least a week ago, Kai would have never thought he would be in a situation like this. He shouldn’t be thinking negatively. This is only the start of something new, a new chapter, an open door and as terrifying as that is, he’s relieved that he has something to look forward to now in the future instead of just wallowing in the past.

“How about you, Soobin?” Kai surprises himself by bringing his second hand up to their clasped hands, wrapping it around Soobin’s, basically forming almost a hand sandwich. _‘What the hell is this boy doing to me?’_

The gesture made Soobin sweat a little. _‘Why am I getting so flustered by something as small as that? Get it together dude.’_

“I uh, just got broken up with.” Soobin shakes his head still in disbelief it happened, “It was out of the blue. One day we were happy, and the next we were… nothing. She said she had to go somewhere and that she didn’t want me anymore. She didn’t even look sad, it’s like she’s been planning this for a while now.” His voice starts to crack which prompts Kai to grip his hand tightly and try to calm him down _. ‘That sounds familiar.’_ Kai wonders.

“So, I decided to come here. I wanted to find a rebound. I know that sounds really shallow but I just…needed to find something. I needed to feel something. Coz’ most of my life right now has been so so numb.” Soobin takes note of the warmth between their hands.

 _‘You’re the only one making me feel something, Kai. Why is that?’_ He bites his lip looking at him.

Kai replies, “Shit. I’m so sorry, man. That’s fucking terrible. She doesn’t deserve you at all. You seem like such a nice and amazing person. That person didn’t know what she had and lost.” He rambles on, blushing a bit when Soobin giggled at him.

“Thanks, Kai. I’m thankful for one thing I guess about this whole dumb event.” He grins at him.

Kai looks at him curiously, “What are you thankful for?”

Soobin smiles widely, his eyes crinkling with the sides as if smiling with him, “I got to meet someone like you.” He confidently says.

Kai almost chokes on his drink. “What?” He asks, trying to ignore the warmth increasing in his cheeks.

“May I have your number?” Soobin asks him, eyes full of hope. “I—I just I really wanna see where this is going.”

“Oh. A—are you sure?” Kai’s heart quickens. This has never happened before. Is he getting asked out? He doesn’t even know what to do. Should he say yes? Kai is still so unsure about dating a guy.

This almost seemed too good to be true for Kai, like there had to be a catch or something.

Soobin smiles at how flustered Kai was, “I’ve never been more sure of anything. Can’t wait for us to have some _fun_.” He jokes.

_‘Oh, there it is.’_

Suddenly Kai remembers something Soobin mentioned, “Soobin… I don’t want to just be your rebound. I’m looking for a real relationship. I’m sorry.” Kai quickly stands up, thinking that was what Soobin’s intentions were. “I thought you were different.”

“What? No, you got it all wr—” Soobin tries to explain but Kai cut him off. “Look. I have to go now. I hope you find someone who’s looking for someone like yourself.”

Soobin’s jaw drops “Wait, hold up!” He tries to run after him but Kai is just too quick for him.

It’s all just a misunderstanding.

Soobin eventually reaches the outside the venue but saw Kai was nowhere to be found. _‘I’m such a dumbass. I knew how Kai felt about all this stuff and I probably spooked him.’_

Soobin stomps on the pavement. He needs to find him somehow.

Kai just feels so different. Soobin hasn’t felt this way for anyone since his ex-girlfriend. Even though him and Kai were only together for that short period of time, he could tell how genuine and pure his soul is. Which is why he needs to get him back.

Soobin pulls out his phone _. ‘I need some help.’_ “Gyu? Hello? Where are you right now?”

Kai, now sitting at the back of the bus on his way home, put his head in his hands. _‘How could I be so stupid and be manipulated like that. I thought he was actually being nice for a second.’_ He curses himself for falling so easily to his tricks.

 _‘I shouldn’t have let my guard down that easily. I should’ve been more careful. It’s always guys like him pretending to be nice just to get into someone’s pants. Stupid Kai. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.’_ He lets his head slump into the back of the seat.

He wipes the tears with the back of his hand, breathing heavily. He can’t wait to tell Taehyun all about this. He decides to just let himself fall asleep for now, tired after all the events that transpired today.

* * *

 

Yeonjun and Taehyun sits together in their table, drinking their coffee in peace. It was now around late afternoon and they had just finished building one of the major set pieces. Taehyun looks at the unfinished ones worryingly, he has to leave for two weeks to visit his family and when he returns its only a few days till their big show. It’s one of the reasons why he agreed to work on Valentine’s day, to make up for his absence.

“Don’t worry about it, okay? We already finished so much with just the two of us.” Yeonjun grins at him. Taehyun nods thankfully and takes a sip from his coffee.

“Also, thanks again for joining me today. I hope I didn’t ruin any Valentine’s day plans for you.” Yeonjun smirks.

Taehyun shrugs, setting down his mug, “Not really. I actually haven’t found anyone nice yet plus… I’m always busy running around with you as your assistant. Not really a lot of time to date.”

“Do you ever regret being my assistant?” Yeonjun asks him, genuinely curious.

Taehyun takes a while to answer, “No. I’m glad to be able to take the opportunity to learn from you.” He continues, “I’m just sick of being alone and there aren’t really opportunities to do that when I’m always stuck by your side.”

Yeonjun snorts, “Maybe we should date then.” He jokes which he immediately regrets as silence was setting in on the room.

“I—I was joking by the way.” He coughs to try to clear the silence between them.

Taehyun stayed mute and just sipped from his coffee. Yeonjun continues, “Why are you being so quiet?”

Taehyun finally removes his mug from his face, showing Yeonjun how red his cheeks were. _‘He’s so cute.’_

“Oh, nothing. Just uh thinking about some stuff.” Taehyun smiles to himself, deciding to tease his boss more.

Yeonjun frowns, “Hyunnie hey! What were you thinking about?”

“Can’t tell you, sorry.” Taehyun winks at him. “Anyways, how about you hyung? You really had no plans for today?”

Yeonjun shakes his head, “I’m not really into romantic days like this. I think they’re stupid and just a scam to raise the prices of chocolate.” Taehyun laughs at him.

“Do you have a girlfriend then?” Taehyun asks, his blush creeping back to his cheeks.

Yeonjun glances at his lips for a millisecond, “Nope. I’m single. How about you?”

Taehyun smiles back at him, looking at him with softly, “Cool. I’m single as well. But… I do have someone in mind right now.” He says smirking at Yeonjun.

Yeonjun feels his heart stop. Is this a sign that Taehyun likes him? Should he make a move? Ever since his friends pointed out that there was a possibility that Taehyun had a crush on him, he couldn’t stop fantasizing them together. Yeonjun then realized that that meant he had a crush on Taehyun too.

Throwing care to the wind, Yeonjun stands up and goes to Taehyun, their thighs touching as Yeonjun sits on the table. He whispers, “Who is it?” he smirks, seeing Taehyun visibly gulp.

Taehyun giggles nervously, “I—I think you know him pretty well. He’s… a bit uptight and annoying sometimes but in the end his hotness makes up for it.” Taehyun looks up him, his eyes blinking innocently.

Yeonjun feels like he can’t breathe. Yep, this was definitely about him. He composes himself and plays along with Taehyun, putting his hand on Taehyun’s own.

“Well, I also have someone in mind.” Yeonjun squeezes Taehyun’s hand, “Someone who talks a lot and seem very cold at times but are actually a sweetheart.” Yeonjun takes a deep breath, bends down to him and whispers, “Do you know who that is?” He licks his lips.

Taehyun gulps at how close their faces are, he looks down at Yeonjun’s lips and back to his eyes. Yeonjun does the same, slowly bringing his hand up to cup Taehyun’s face.

He immediately closes his eyes and nuzzles Yeonjun’s hand, hearing a soft growl from him in return. Yeonjun glances at Taehyun’s plump and shiny lips just begging to be kissed. “Hyung…” he squeaks out.

He could feel his soft breaths on his cheek. “Come on, show me your beautiful eyes…” Taehyun opens them quickly making Yeonjun smile lovingly at him.

“Is this okay?” He asks, caressing Taehyun’s cheek.

Taehyun whimpers in response, not looking away from Yeonjun’s lips. “Y—Yes, now please do something before I lose my mind.” He starts to close his eyes as he feels Yeonjun’s face go even closer.

Suddenly, there’s a loud knock from their door.

“Shit!” Yeonjun jumps back quickly, causing him to accidentally fall off the table.

“Sir, I have a package for you. Can you sign it outside?” They hear a voice from outside the door speak.

They stare at each other for a moment, catching their breaths.

“Um y—you should probably sign that, hyung.” Taehyun blinks at him, face redder than a tomato and pupils dilated.

Yeonjun must have had did something extremely horrible in his past life to deserve this kind of bad karma from the universe. He fixes his clothes and composes himself before greeting the man at the door.

Taehyun lays back at his seat. _‘I can’t believe we were about to kiss.’_

No, he couldn’t do this. He knows it isn’t a good idea to date your boss. He would probably be called out for sleeping his way to get a promotion or a spot in the show and that’s not how he wants to make his debut on stage. He remembers reading those news articles before about scandals surrounding performers and it makes him shudder.

He doesn’t want people to judge him and Yeonjun. He’s done so much for him, Taehyun doesn’t want to jeopardize their careers. Taehyun flushes down any thoughts of what would have happened if no one had stopped them. Who knows what they would do? Kai was right, he never shouldn’t have been alone with him.

‘ _Wait, Kai!’_ he remembers he had that event today.

Taehyun picks up his phone and calls his friend.

“H—Hello? Hyunnie?” He hears Kai sniffling in the other end. “Kai, are you okay? Did something bad happen at the event?” Taehyun asks, worry rising quickly from him. He hears a small ‘mhm’ from the other side followed by more sniffles.

“Can you come home right now? I’ll explain once you get here.” Kai replies sounding like he had a stuffy nose.

“Okay, okay I’m coming home now. Stay where you are okay? I’ll be home soon.” Taehyun ends the call and quickly gathers his things just in time for Yeonjun to get back.

“Wait, where are you going?” Yeonjun asks him, putting the package down.

“I need to go. My friend needs me. Told me something bad had happened back at the event.” Taehyun replies, zipping up his bag. Yeonjun nods along in understanding.

“You’re going away for two weeks, right?” Yeonjun looks at him, sadness in his eyes.

Taehyun sighs and bites his lip, “Yeah, two weeks. My uncle is sick right now so I need to come home for a while. Don’t worry, I’ll be back before rehearsals for the show.” He smiles at him.

Yeonjun stares at him for a few seconds before coming closer to Taehyun again, “Can I have something to remember you by?” He jokes and points to his lips.

Taehyun closes his eyes for a few seconds. He promised himself he wouldn’t jeopardize his future. He’s doing this for both of them.

 “L—look I’m sorry but… I think it was a mistake. We shouldn’t be doing anything. It just isn’t…right.” Taehyun says hesitantly. Yeonjun looks at him with a bewildered look before turning sour.

“Fine. Whatever. Just leave then.” He raises his voice and looks away from Taehyun, opting to clear out the table instead.

“I’m so sorry, Yeonjun hyung. I hope you will forgive me.” He whispers out as he leaves out the door, looking back at him one last time.

Yeonjun hears the door closing and he sits back down on his chair. _‘Why the fuck is he leading me on? Was I just imagining things then?’_ He groans.

Yeonjun gets himself another cup of coffee and looks at all the building materials left on the ground. _‘Taehyun…’_ he starts to clean up after their mess, hoping to get some rest soon back at their apartment.

_‘What are your true feelings towards me?’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun, I guess you can say Kai has a gay panic moment huh? Don't worry because our Soobin never gives up easily. Also, pray for Taehyun that he comes to his senses. <3 Please leave a kudos and a comment if you're liking the story so far. It warms me up and motivates me when I read your thoughts. See you next chapter! <3 
> 
>  
> 
> -J


	4. The Comfort and Deception

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soobin goes to Beomgyu for help in getting back Kai. Taehyun comforts Kai over the events that transpired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'm finally back with another chapter. I hope you are all doing well and I hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I had writing it.

Beomgyu leans back on his chair and furrows his eyebrows. He’s at the library, just finishing a practice test he had found online. He knew wasn’t as smart as Soobin was so he needed to work harder and study more in order to be able to keep up with him. Beomyu taps his pen on his book, his mind wandering again. He wonders what happened in the Valentine’s day event that Soobin went to.

He’s hoping that Soobin had found someone to rebound to. This would help Soobin move on from his ex and be open to new relationships. One involving Beomgyu. Throughout all the years they’ve been friends, Beomgyu had always given Soobin little hints that he had a crush on him. Maybe a lingering touch on his shoulder, always saving him a seat at class when he’s a little late, buying him food when he said he had skipped breakfast. Beomgyu had been treating Soobin with so much care that it broke his heart seeing him with his girlfriend.

Beomgyu saw the signs before anyone could, Soobin’s girlfriend was almost cancelling all their plans together, saying that she was busy and that she shouldn’t be bothered right now. Beomgyu had always been there for Soobin, taking her place instead. He liked to imagine that they were really having their date in some fancy restaurant and not just to fill in her place. They had plenty of fun too, those nights were filled with so much laughter and sharing and bonding that made Soobin forget that his girlfriend had stood him up.

So, Beomgyu always wondered if Soobin also had feelings for him. He was determined to find that out once all of this was over. He’s kind of hoping Soobin didn’t meet anyone nice there. He didn’t want anyone else to care for Soobin like he does. He believes only he is capable of that.

Beomgyu sighs and closes his eyes, letting his mind rest a bit before he begins studying again when suddenly, he hears his phone start to vibrate on the table.

_‘Soobin-hyung <3 is calling’ _

Beomgyu immediately picks up the phone, thumb scrambling to click accept call.

“Hello?” He whispers to the receiver.

“Gyu? Hello? Where are you right now?” Soobin’s voice flooded his ears. He blushes a bit before answering, “I’m at the library right now, hyung. Do you need anything?”

“Can we go to your place? I need your help on something.” Soobin asks him.

Beomgyu wonders what it could be, “Alright hyung, be there soon. Is this about the Valentine’s day event? Did something happen?” He bit his lip, hoping his answer will be no.

“Yeah. But I’ll explain more about it once I get there. Thanks, Gyu, I’m hanging up now.” Soobin replies before ending the call.

Beomgyu sits for a while, just thinking to himself. What would Soobin even need his help with? Beomgyu shrugs and starts to pack his stuff to head back to his apartment.

Soobin was already there when Beomgyu stepped inside his apartment. He wasn’t surprised, he does this all the time. He greeted his friend who’s tapping his foot repeatedly, as if he had an itch he desperately needed to be scratched.

“Soobin hyung? Are you alright?” Beomgyu set his bag down before Soobin looks up at him, distress in his eyes.

“I need your help in looking for someone. Do you know how to find someone online? I—I need to find him immediately. It’s all just a misunderstanding I—” Soobin blubbers out making Beomgyu immediately rush to his side.

“Hey, calm down okay? Why don’t you tell me what happened from the start?” He rubs Soobin’s back until his breathing calmed down.

Soobin slumps down into the couch, finally calmed down a bit and starts telling Beomgyu all about the event. About how he had messed up picking the ribbons, how he had met no one interesting except for this one guy. Beomgyu was surprised, he wasn’t sure that Soobin liked guys but this basically confirmed it. Soobin also told him how they had connected and how he could feel that there was something between them.

Beomgyu cursed the universe. _‘Shit he found someone.’_ He grit his teeth as he continued to listen to Soobin. He finished by telling Beomgyu that he had messed up and said the wrong thing to him which he took the wrong way.

Beomgyu tilts his head in confusion, “Why are you still going after him then? Clearly, he has a strange way of thinking.”

Soobin almost looked offended, “B—because…I like him, Gyu. It’s not his fault, he told me how afraid he was about love and feelings or whatever. I should have been more careful. I want the chance to explain and make it up to him.”

Beomgyu shook his head at his friend in disbelief. He really must like this guy. Beomgyu felt a pang of jealousy. He wishes Soobin felt that way about him.

“Help me please, Gyu.” Soobin coos, holding Beomgyu’s hands, looking up at him with puppy eyes.

Beomgyu feels his heart skip a beat. _‘This isn’t fair, he can’t just use his cuteness against me. He knows how powerless I get.’_

“F—Fine. Just get off me.” Beomgyu turns his face away, hoping Soobin wouldn’t notice his reddening cheeks.

Soobin jumps up in glee and turns on his laptop, immediately getting to work. “Okay, so, his name is Huening Kai. But I’ve already checked like social media and all that but nothing.”

Beomgyu sits back, thinking, “Maybe he uses his nickname? I use Gyu on my social medias.” He proposes, “What kind of nicknames does Huening Kai have?”

Soobin hums to himself, “Maybe Kai? Or Hyuka?”

Beomgyu types up the words on Facebook. He clicks on the first profile he sees. He looks at the profile picture and sees a boy with dark hair, triple eyelids and a cute smile. _‘Shit. He’s cute.’_ Beomgyu understands why Soobin wants to find him again.

“Is this him?” Beomgyu asks his friend tentatively.

Soobin’s eyes bulged, “Yes! Didn’t know he went with the name Hyuka as well. Let’s see…” he starts reading the ‘about’ section on his page. “Okay, so he’s a music school teacher at Lila High School. Great, I know where that is, I can just go there and ask for an apology.”

Beomgyu stops him, “No! Uh he’s probably not gonna like that dude, you just showing up while he’s working. You should surprise him instead, y’know, send him flowers, gifts, or cheesy letters or something.”

Beomgyu smirks to himself. Not only will this surely overwhelm Kai but it will also make Soobin look creepy and desperate. _‘Beomgyu, you are a genius.’_

“You really think so? Wouldn’t that be too much?” Soobin asks hesitantly.

Beomgyu shakes his head, “No, of course not. He’s just gonna see how much effort you put in y’know and will be willing to talk to you.” Soobin nods along to him, thinking about it deeply.  

“You’re right. Okay, let’s do it.” Soobin finally agrees which makes Beomgyu grin. Oh, he was gonna have fun with this. They decide to start sending him gifts starting next week for 5 days. At the end of the week, Soobin was going to give him his number included in the gift and ask Kai to call him or send him a text. If Kai still doesn’t respond then Soobin was going to stop trying to get to him. He doesn’t want to make him more uncomfortable.

Beomgyu can’t wait for this plan to fall apart. Based from Soobin’s description, Kai would definitely be the kind of person who easily gets freaked out by all these gifts and end up not calling him. _‘Soobin will be mine…’_

* * *

 

Taehyun rushes to open the door to their apartment. He feels so guilty for putting his friend through all that. He shouldn’t have pushed him to join the event. Taehyun only had good intentions, he didn’t expect it to go horrible.

“Kai? Are you here?” He asks, entering the living room. He lets out a little squeak when he is immediately pulled down by his friend. Taehyun’s face softens and wraps his arms around his best friend. Kai lies down in Taehyun’s chest, tears spilling from his eyes again now that Taehyun is back. They just lie there in silence, enjoying each other’s comfort, waiting for the other to say something.

“You ready to tell me what happened now?” Taehyun brushes Kai’s curls from his eyes.

He looks up from Taehyun’s chest and nods his head. “Y—you remember that girl who used to bully me in high school? I met her again today at the event and things did not go well.”

Taehyun gasps, “I don’t even remember her name anymore. Are you okay? Did she hurt you?” He asks while continuing to play with Kai’s hair.

“Kind of. But I took care of her, Hyunnie. I stood up for myself.” Taehyun smiles at the boy below as he continues, “I didn’t know what happened but I just let all my feelings out, I said all the things I’ve always wanted to say. It felt so empowering…after that I saw her cry a bit but then I kind of just escaped to the bathroom.”

“Kai I am so so proud of you for that. That girl has been terrorizing you for so long…it’s about time she realized you weren’t someone to be messed with.” Taehyun pinches his cheeks, earning him a giggle from Kai.

“But then Hyunnie, someone sat with me. It was a guy. He said his name was Soobin.” Kai gushes.

_‘Soobin…why does that sound so familiar.’_

“Y—You like guys? You never told me that.” Taehyun asks in disbelief.

Kai nods at him, “I’m not even sure yet, but I think I do. I like him. I feel it in my heart.”

Taehyun smiles at his friend, he’s happy Kai has been getting to know himself more. “So, what happened then? Why are you home early?”

Kai rolls back so that he was laying his face on his chest. Taehyun laughs at him and pats the back of his head, “I take it you did something wrong?”

“I think I did, Hyunnie. I might have overreacted a bit.” Kai bit his lip, tears threatening to spill.

He had realized it when he got home how stupid he was being. He completely misunderstood the situation and he might have missed out on the love of his life. He was panicking when it happened, shocked at how good the date was going, thinking something was about to go wrong. He blames his dumb brain for making him panic and run out of the situation. He had never been with guys before, and he had heard stories that most of them only want sex therefore, he had automatically assumed that Soobin just wanted the same thing. But looking back at it now, he was totally in the wrong. If only Kai knew how to reach Soobin, he needs to apologize to him.

Taehyun nods along as he tells his story, comforting him at the same time. “Hey, it’s gonna be alright I promise. We’re gonna try to find him okay? Do you know what his full name is?”

Kai thinks back but his memory was a bit foggy, he was too distracted by how cute Soobin was that he could not remember what his full name was. Chuu? Joo? Soi? He cursed himself for being such an idiot.

“I don’t remember Hyunnie. I can’t believe I’m gonna lose him forever.” Kai’s voice breaks.

Taehyun shushes him up, “Okay, let’s calm down. Just go about your normal routine for a while okay? The memory will come back to you in no time.”

“Okay…thank you Hyunnie. By the way, is it okay if we lay here for a while? You’re warm.” Kai giggles as Taehyun pulled him closer.

“Of course, you big baby. But you better help me pack for my trip. You’re gonna be okay with me being gone for 2 weeks, right?” He asks Kai, a bit worried that he’s leaving him alone at a bad time.

Kai plays with the sleeves of his jacket, “Yes yes, I’m a grown man you know.” He grumbles as Taehyun laughs at him, “Alright, just checking.” He smiles at Kai, holding him tighter.

* * *

 

Kai exhales, opening the door to his music classroom. It was Monday, and it was back to reality. He thankfully got some rest over the weekend after the tragedy of the Valentine’s day event and he would be feeling a lot better if it weren’t for the fact that he still hasn’t remembered Soobin’s full name. He sits down in his chair and lays down on the table for a while since class won’t start yet for another 30 minutes.

A few minutes later he hears a knock on the door which he assumes is one of his students. “You can come in y’know, it is your classroom.” He mumbles sleepily.

“I have a delivery for you, sir.” The voice outside speaks, slightly muffled by the door.

Kai’s ears peaked in interest, who would deliver something this early to him and what did they send? He stands up and walks to the door, hesitantly opening it up, thinking it was a prank or something by the students.

He is then greeted by one of the security guards at their school, in his hand are a bouquet of flowers, containing different kinds and colors.

Kai’s eyes widen, “I—Is this for me?” he asks the security guard.

“Yes, sir. Someone dropped this off a while ago saying to give this to you. Oh, and it came with a note as well.” The security guard says, transferring the bouquet and note to Kai before walking away.

“Do you know who it was?”

The security guard shakes his head, “I didn’t recognize him, he was some really tall guy in his mid twenties, with brown-orange hair.”

Kai gasps, _‘That’s definitely Soobin. But why would he send Kai flowers?’_

“Alright, thank you Chief! I hope I didn’t cause you any trouble.” Kai smiles at the guard before coming back to the classroom. He admires the flowers in the boquet, all of different kinds and colors. He recognized some of them and knew that they were not cheap flowers. He tentatively picks up the card that came along with the boquet.

_‘Dear Huening Kai, this is one of the five gifts I will be sending you starting today. I hope these will be sufficient for you to forgive me for what happened last weekend. I’m hoping to be able to talk to you at the end of the week, if you’re still willing to talk to me. I promise to explain everything but for now, enjoy the gifts I will bring to you. -CS’_

Kai’s feels himself blush up to his toes. Is this the real life? Is this really happening? Is a boy really courting him? He feels so embarrassed for treating Soobin like that, he needs to apologize to him as soon as possible. Kai clutches the bouquet in his arms and starts dancing all around the room in glee. No one has ever done this to him before. He couldn’t stop smiling, even the judging looks from his students when they saw him dancing inside didn’t wipe his smile off his face.

Starting that day, he couldn’t wait for the week to be over. He just wanted to get Soobin’s number immediately. The gifts were nice but he didn’t want Soobin to spend money on someone like him. He would receive the gifts at random parts of the day too, making him flustered when he’s teaching his class. His students would look at him in confusion, wondering what was going on with their music teacher.

Kai received all kinds of gifts, from flowers to chocolates to stuffed bears, all those cliché shit. He had always seen them in romantic movies but to actually experience the same thing was just incredible for him. He feels so wanted, so loved, something he had never felt his whole life. Soobin was treating him like he was a prince and Kai would give anything in the world just to make Soobin feel the same.

Which is why on Friday, he had prepared his speech for him. He stands up from his desk to answer the door, excited for what the last gift was.

“Good Morning, sir! I hope you answer this person soon. They’ve been leaving you gifts all week.” The security guard snickers, handing Kai a box.

Kai smiles at him knowingly, “Don’t worry Chief, you won’t be delivering gifts anymore soon.”

Kai looks at the box in his hand before setting it down on his table. First of all, it was small. Not too small but not medium sized. He slowly unwrapped the box and opened it, looking at it in confusion.

It was a crumpled-up flyer of the Valentine’s day event.

Kai picks it up and smoothens it down on the table, realizing there was a message written in the back.

_“Dear Huening Kai, I hope you enjoyed all the gifts I sent you. I’m sorry if this last one wasn’t as amazing as the others, to be honest my wallet was almost empty so I decided to go through the sentimental route. This is the flyer for the event where we met and I want you to know that I really want to finish what we started over there. Below I included my number. I hope I can get a text from you soon and we can set up a place to talk. Sincerely, CS.’_

Kai pouted his lips; he can’t believe had been draining Soobin’s bank account with all these gifts. He really needs to make up for it, once they get together, Kai promises to pay for most of their dinners to try to repay everything Soobin has done for him. He decides to text him after school so that he won’t get distracted while teaching.

* * *

 

Kai, finally home, stares at the phone in his hand.

_‘Kai, you can do this. Just text him. It’s so much easier than calling him. You’d probably just burst into tears once you hear his voice.’_

He feels himself start to panic again. _‘I don’t even know what to say to him. What if I say the wrong thing and he doesn’t want to meet me anymore?’_

 _‘Just shut up and go text him.’_ His rational part of the brain tells him.

Kai goes back and forth on this until it got really late, and all he’d been doing was staring at his phone.

He checks the time on his phone. _10:48 pm._

_‘Shit. Alright, I need to do this now. Regardless of the outcome, I need to tell him how I feel.’_

Kai finally opens up the messaging app and types in Soobin’s number, preparing to write a message for him.

 _“Dear Soobin, it’s me. You still remember me? Haha.”_ Kai deletes that quickly, cringing at how awkward he was being.  

Kai takes a deep breath, shuts off everything else in his mind and just focuses on writing a serious heartfelt message for him.

_“Dear Soobin. I know it’s late and I apologize. I’ve just been going back and forth on how I should start apologizing to you. First of all, I’m sorry for draining your bank. Second of all, I’m sorry for being such a scaredy-cat. I realized how wrong I was and I hope we can meet soon so that I can apologize to you properly. By the way, this is Kai. Hope to hear from you soon. <3 “_

Kai takes a deep breath and presses send. He’s done it. He actually sent him a message. Kai feels proud of himself, slowly but surely, he’s changing into this brave new person who’s trying out new things and trying out new experiences. He decides to send Soobin another text.

“Also, I miss your cute face. I can’t wait to see you again.”

He sends it, turns off his phone and goes to sleep since he’s assuming Soobin was already asleep. Kai sighs happily, slipping off into his dreams.

* * *

 

Soobin was at Beomgyu’s apartment again. They had just finished a marathon study session for their exams on Monday and Soobin was just too tired to go home to his apartment.

Beomgyu smiles excitedly, “You can just sleep here you know. I can take the couch, no problem.”

Soobin shakes his head sleepily, “No no no, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. If you don’t mind, we can sleep on the bed together?” he proposes to him.

Beomgyu pinches himself, he _definitely_ wasn’t dreaming this. “Oh, uh sure whatever, w—we can do that. You can go ahead now. I’ll join you in a few.” He says in an attempt to seem casual.

Luckily, Soobin was too tired to question him and just went ahead and plopped down on the bed.

Beomgyu tries his best to freshen up in the bathroom, wearing perfume, using mouthwash, anything that would make him more appealing while they sleep. He quietly joins Soobin and turn’s off all the lights.

He lays at the other side of the bed, still awake, facing Soobin and admiring his features. He’s savoring this moment, just them alone, in the bed together. Soobin grumbles and makes grabby hands at him. Beomgyu realizes what this means and scoots closer and immediately, Soobin threw his arm around him. Beomgyu could feel himself heating up from how close they were.

He decides to take one step closer and buries his face in Soobin’s neck, inhaling his scent. He hears Soobin make a sound above him. Beomgyu panics, thinking he would get caught.

“K—Kai….” Soobin mumbles in his sleep, clutching Beomgyu closer.

Beomgyu feels his heart break. Was Soobin imagining Kai while he was cuddling him?

Suddenly, he hears a phone buzz from the side of his table.

It’s coming from Soobin’s phone.

He manages to wiggle out his hand and retrieve it, being met by the bright light from the screen. He lowers the brightness down on Soobin’s phone as to not wake him and checks the notification.

There’s a text from an unknown number. _‘Could this be Kai?’_ Beomgyu’s suspicions were confirmed upon reading the message sent. He sensed his blood start to boil. His plan had worked terribly again. Kai must really like Soobin. He quietly cursed himself, thinking of a plan to stop them from meeting.

Then, he thought of something. Sneaking another look at the boy sleeping beside him, Beomgyu opens Soobin’s phone again, opens his messages and deletes the ones sent by Kai before effectively blocking his number as well.

Beomgyu lets out a sigh of relief. Finally, he could have Soobin all to himself. He places the phone back on the table and wraps his arm around Soobin’s chest, laying his head back on the crook of his neck.

_‘No one is gonna take my Soobin away.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun. What will happen next with our gang of troubled adults? Stay tuned. Next chapter will be out next week. A kudos and comment will always be appreciated <3 thank you for reading!


	5. The Anticipation and Realization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soobin and Kai wonders why the other hasn't texted yet. Taehyun and Yeonjun's relationship worsens when an unexpected event changes everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I know I've been so so so inactive these past few days. This chapter may contain grammatical errors so I apologize in advance. This is actually one of my favorite chapters so I hope you like it as much as I do. <3

Kai wakes up to his blaring alarm at the side of his bed. It was morning the next day. Last night, he had another brave moment when he had sent Soobin a text saying he’s sorry and asking for them to meet up again to clear things up. It had been a moment of vulnerability for them both. Kai stretches his arms, curious about what Soobin had texted back.

He picks up his phone and turns it on.

_‘No new messages’_

Kai shrugged it off, it’s still early in the morning and Soobin was probably still asleep. Kai went about his morning normally, washing his face, eating breakfast, brushing his teeth, watching television and so on.

Now it was almost noon and still he had received no text from Soobin.

_‘This doesn’t even make any sense. Soobin had sent me all those gifts and now he’s just gonna ignore my messages?’_

Kai decides to text him again, his curiousity almost eating him alive.

‘ _Hey Soobin, why aren’t you answering my messages? Hope to hear from you soon.’_ He clicks send and immediately sets his phone down on the table out of panic, cringing at the loud sound it made.

Suddenly, a ping went off not a minute later.

 _‘Sorry but you cannot send messages to this number anymore.’_ It read.

“What the fuck?” Kai breathes out confusingly, had he texted the wrong number? He scrambles to his feet and snatches the piece of paper on the counter. He compares the number on the phone and the one on the paper.

It was exactly the same.

Kai slumps back down into the couch. Had he said something wrong then? Was Soobin not happy with how late Kai had texted him? Did he change his mind about Kai?

All these questions were swirling around in Kai’s mind when suddenly he hears keys jingling in the locks on their apartment door. _‘No, it couldn’t be.’_ Kai jumps up from the couch and immediately runs to the door to greet his friend.

“Hyunnie!” Kai leaps forward to capture his friend in an embrace.

Taehyun raises his eyebrows, but hugs his friend back tightly. “I was gone for a week dude. You’re so clingy.” He chuckles, squeezing Kai’s cheeks.

“I thought you weren’t gonna be back till next week?” Kai inquires.

Taehyun smiles at him, “My uncle got a lot better really quickly, I guess that’s Kang Taehyun’s impact, huh.” He says, striking a pose. Kai laughs at him, swatting away at his arms.

“I missed you so much. Felt like I was going mad being all alone in this apartment.” Kai confesses as he helps him bring his things to living room.

“Are you okay? Did something happen?” Taehyun looks at him worryingly. Kai bites his lip and sits them both down and starts telling Taehyun everything that happened in the past week. About how he had gotten those daily gifts at work from Soobin, about how he had been brave enough to face his fears and text him back, and about how Soobin had blocked his number the next day.

Taehyun nods along, looking more and more angry by the minute. “How the fuck could he do that to you? Do you think he can just play with your feelings like that?” He huffs in anger.

“Wait, Hyunnie, maybe it’s not like that, maybe it was just a mistake. He might contact me again.” Kai says, trying to calm his friend down.

“Kai, please tell me you’re not going to give him another chance to hurt you again.” Taehyun intervenes.

Kai shakes his head, tears threatening to spill out, “Fuck. You’re right Hyunnie. I promise I won’t anymore.”

Taehyun sits back down and wraps an arm around his friend, “Hey, I’m sorry okay. I know you really like him, but… something just isn’t right. I don’t know what’s going on but its best you stay away from any kind of mess for a while okay?” He gives Kai a kiss on his forehead and rubs his arm comfortingly.

Kai sniffles and just nods in return as he has no idea what to say.

 _‘But what about the gifts he sent? Surely, he wouldn’t just spend all that money on someone he was just planning on blocking.’_ Kai lays his head on Taehyun’s shoulder, enjoying his presence. He was gonna try his best to figure this out.

* * *

 

Beomgyu groans in bed, he can feel the sun shining through the window, hitting him in the face. His arms reach out to the spot beside him, letting out a disappointed noise when he couldn’t find Soobin. He opens his eyes, slowly adjusting to his surroundings.

His mind flashes back to what happened last night. In a spontanenous moment, he had cut off ties with his friend’s possible boyfriend. He smiles a bit, not really feeling bad about it. The guy seemed like bad news for Soobin. He didn’t want his friend to end up with someone who keeps on hurting him.

He sits up, adjusting his hair a bit. Where was Soobin anyways? That was when he heard the shower in his bathroom turn off. _‘Oh, it was on? I didn’t even notice it.’_ He thinks to himself as he wears his fluffy slippers and starts to make coffee in the kitchen.

“Hey, mornin’ Gyu.” He hears a deep voice greet him from behind.

Beomgyu spins around, coffee mug in hand and faces Soobin, who was wearing only a towel with water droplets still dripping from his body. Beomgyu’s eyes widen as he sneakily studies the beautiful curves that accentuate his body, his abs and most especially his arms, where Beomgyu finds himself belonging the most.

Beomgyu tightens his grip on his mug, “M—morning hyung, do you want some c—coffee?” He stutters out, his eyes not leaving Soobin’s body one bit.

Soobin looks at him questioningly, “You okay there Gyu? You’re not sick, are you? Oh God, did I pass some sickness to you?”

Beomgyu chuckles at his friend’s urgency, “What? No, of course not. I’m just a bit groggy from sleep that’s all.” Beomgyu fills up another mug with coffee from the coffee maker. He hands the coffee to Soobin, making sure their hands touch.

Soobin gives him a crinkly smile and thanks Beomgyu before walking back into the bedroom to probably change. Beomgyu leans against the counter and fantasizes a bit about Soobin finally letting that towel fall.

 _‘Beomgyu! Stop perving over your friend.’_ He scolds himself before checking out his fridge for breakfast.

He seems some bread and jam and decides to make some toast for the both of them. He neatly prepares the table and calls Soobin to come eat. Soobin steps out, completely dressed now which makes Beomgyu a little disappointed. He’s holding his phone, and Beomgyu can tell that he’s on the messaging app.

“He hasn’t texted me yet, Gyu. Do you think he’s busy or something?” Soobin sits down at the table, worry on his face.

Beomgyu grins to himself, “Hey, maybe he just isn’t right for you, we’ve done all we can haven’t we?” He grabs on to Soobin’s hand, squeezing it a bit.

Soobin replies, “I don’t know Gyu, I think I should wait for a while to see if he comes through.”

Beomgyu’s eyes twitches in annoyance. _‘Jeez, when are you gonna give up already.’_ He plasteres a smile on his face and places fresh toast on Soobin’s plate. “Hey, let’s not think about that for a while. We do have classes on monday, plus we need to do that quiz for Dr. Garcia’s class.”

Soobin groans and sets his phone down. “Fuck. You’re right. I haven’t even studied for that yet. Help me out please?”

Beomgyu giggles at his friend, already pulling out a notebook. “Fuck, Beomgyu. You’re the fucking best I love you so much.” Soobin exclaims which made Beomgyu’s face go red.

“N—no problem. Anything for you.” Beomgyu attempts to hide his blush by stuffing his face with toast. He feels his heart starts beating faster. _‘He loves me. He loves me. He loves me.’_

Soobin thanks his friend again and starts eating his toast. He’s so anxious about Kai. Why wasn’t he texting back? Did he get spooked out again by Soobin’s advances?

 _‘Maybe the gifts were a little bit too much…’_ Soobin thinks to himself, swallowing his coffee down messily.

He had put a lot effort into this and to think that this is actually the outcome out of all of this? Soobin was a bit frustrated and mad to be honest. He’s bank account was suffering so much from this. Maybe it’s time to let go and move on? This clearly isn’t working out.

_‘Wait, no. Soobin stop it. Kai is most definitely worth it. I will try every way possible to meet him again. I don’t care if it takes me forever. I have to meet him again. I just have to.’_

* * *

 

It was Monday and that meant everyone was back to work.

Taehyun enters his workplace shyly, hoping he wouldn’t bump into Yeonjun immediately. He hears Yeonjun’s voice from inside a room so he decides to hide behind the door and take a peek.

Inside, Yeonjun was with one of the female actors. Taehyun remembers her pretty well because of how pretty she was. He feels a pang of jealousy every time she gets close to Yeonjun and this time was no exception.

He can feel the anger rising from him as he sees her obviously flirting with Yeonjun trying to get his attention.

“Yeonjun hyung, please come have a drink with me. It’ll be fun.” She says flirtily, bending down a bit in front of Yeonjun, slightly exposing her chest.

Yeonjun sighs loudly, “I told you already, I’m not interested.”

The girl huffs angrily, “Why not? You have a girlfriend or something?”

Taehyun sees Yeonjun smile a bit, “Yeah, maybe. So, can you please get out of the way so I can practice my lines in peace?”

“Fine. Whatever. You know where to find me though. Anytime, anywhere, I’m yours.” She slips him her card and walks away, just almost brushing past Taehyun.

Yeonjun chuckles at the card, throwing it into the trash can.

Taehyun decides to man up and greet his boss. He slowly walks inside the room, barely making any sound. However, Yeonjun ends up hearing him pretty quickly. He quickly turns around and his eyes widen in shock.

Suddenly, the air feels very much thicker.

“Taehyun? What are you doing here?” His tone is surprisingly soft.

“I uh got back early. My uncle was better in a shorter time than I thought.” He answers before cautiously looking at him, “How are you doing, hyung?”

Yeonjun’s face went sour, turning away from him. “Why do you suddenly care?”

Taehyun sighs, “Hyung, of course I care about you. You mean a lot to me.”

“Don’t give me that bullshit. I can’t believe you had me make a fool of myself. You could’ve just told me that you didn’t like me.” Yeonjun spits out bitterly, his back still away from him.

Taehyun steps closer to him but a hand had cut him off. “Don’t. I don’t wanna talk to you right now. Just go help out with the others and leave me alone.” Yeonjun’s voice trembled a bit as he sent him away.

Taehyun takes a deep breath and follows his boss’ orders, looking back one last time at the door and just in time to see Yeonjun bury his hands in his head. Taehyun blinks back the tears in his eyes and walks into the other room.

“Hey, you okay kid?” One of the actors asks worryingly.

Taehyun shrugs, “Don’t worry about me. I’m here to help you guys out. You want anything, coffee, food?” He starts listing down everything and prepares to head out and buy them.

Taehyun didn’t mind Yeonjun acting like this. He was already so used to all his boss’ mood swings. But at the same time, he felt like something was very different about him today. He couldn’t put his finger on it but his boss just wasn’t the same as before.

Throughout the day, Yeonjun have been making sure that Taehyun would get as much work as possible. Even giving him jobs that he knew Taehyun couldn’t handle. One of them was to assist some of the workers in moving the big crate of materials into the building.

Taehyun looks at him in confusion and down at his skinny arms, “Uh Hyung, I know you’re madat me but I don’t think I’m gonna be able to help out a lot there. You’re gonna need someone stronger for that.”

Yeonjun looks at him coldly, “Do it. Or I’m firing you.”

Taehyun’s eyes open in shock. He’s never heard his boss threaten him with that before, he really must be mad at him.

Taehyun finally agrees to it. He has no choice. If he loses this job, he loses all hope of ever making it big on stage.

He leaves the room to join the others in bringing the giant crate. He knows he couldn’t handle it, he’s just going to be a hindrance to the other workers, but then again, he didn’t want to make Yeonjun angrier.

He can tell Yeonjun was serious about this. As long as he got through today, he could come home and brainstorm properly about ways of making it up to Yeonjun.

Taehyun waits for the signal for when they would start carrying.

“Go!” He holds his side of the crate and lifts when suddenly he feels himself slipping and the crate tilting over to his side, effectively hitting him hard in the head. Taehyun feels himself crumple down to the floor, his head hurting beyond anything.

He sees a swirl of different colors floating in front of him before he hears a faint voice shouting his name and everything going black.

* * *

 

Kai pushes his chair away from his desk and closes his computer. He had been working on a new syllabus for the next week of his music class. He feels a bit stressed, he hadn’t noticed how behind he was on all of his lessons. He realises how much Soobin had distracted him in the past week.

Soobin was really something else. He didn’t know how to feel about him anymore. A little part of him wants to let him go and find someone else but another part of him is saying to fight for this relationship and that he’s absolutely more than worth it.

He finds himself deep in thought but then feels his phone buzzing in his pocket. He wonders who would call him on his break. _‘Could this finally be Soobin?’_ he grabs it excitedly.

Kai glances at the screen in delight. It was an unknown number. _‘Soobin!’_ He answers the call and brings his phone to his ear.

“Hello?”

“Good Afternoon, is this Huening Kai speaking?” The caller on the other end asks. Kai grimaces, the caller sounded like a girl.

“Yes, this is him.” He grumbles out, very disappointed.

“Sir, I am calling to inform you that your friend Kang Taehyun is currently in St. Junipero Hospital. It is absolutely necessary you come as soon as you can. You have been listed as one of his contacts in case of emergenices. Thank you.”

Kai hung up the phone in shock.

‘ _Taehyun… what happened to you?’_ he immediately scrambles out of his chair and approaches their admin to inform him of the situation. Thankfully, their admin was very understanding and had let him go to his friend.

He immediately takes a cab to the hospital, telling the driver to hurry up. Kai throws a random bill to the taxi driver, telling him to keep the change. He gets out of the taxi quickly and rushes inside the hospital.

He runs up to the receptionist, out of breath, “Do you know what room Kang Taehyun is staying?”

“I’m gonna need your name first, sir.” She asks.

“Huening Kai. I was called by the hospital earlier today saying my friend was brought here.” He replies, the receptionist then types into her computer.

“He’s in room 205 sir. Here is your pass.” She hands him an ID and she gets back to her work.

Kai thanks her and sprints into the nearest elevator. Once he reaches the floor, he scrambles around looking for the room.

Finally, he found it at the end of the hall, he approaches warily, nervous about what he’s going to face in there.

He stops at the door and looks at the room in confusion. He sees Taehyun, sleeping, he doesn’t seem to be harmed that much, only his head is bandaged a bit.

But then he also sees another man, sitting by Taehyun’s side holding his hand. The man was sitting with his back to the door so he didn’t recognize who it was.

Kai also noticed that the man was crying. He hid back behind the wall and tried to eavesdrop on what he was saying.

“….so so sorry for everything Taehyun. I should have never forced you to do that. God I fucking hate myself so much for making you go through this. I’m so fucking stupid….”

Kai steps away from the door, _‘Sheesh, what happened to him?’_ He quietly sprints to the nearest doctor at the end of the hall.

“Excuse me, do you happen to know what happened to Kang Taehyun from room 205? I’m his friend.” He inquires.

The doctor rifles through his papers, scanning the information on it, “Ah, for Mr. Kang Taehyun, he suffered a minor injury to the head from a blunt object. Apparently it was from a crate. He’s just gonna be unconscious for a while, nothing to worry about.”

Kai nods along to the doctor as he explained situation to him for a while.

Kai lets out a sigh of relief. _‘If anything ever happened to my best friend I don’t know what I would do…’_

“Thank you so much, doctor. I can’t tell you how relieved I am.” He exhales, when suddenly he remembers the man from the room.

“Do you happen to know the man currently with Taehyun right now?”

The doctor scratches his chin in thought, “Ah yes. I believe that he introduced himself as his boss.”

Kai’s ears peaked in interest. That was the boss Taehyun has a crush on. He thanks the doctor and tiptoes back to the door of room 205. He looks back and sees a different scene now. The man, now he knows as Yeonjun a.k.a Taehyun’s boss, is now peacefully sleeping by Taehyun’s side, holding his hand.

Taehyun was now currently awake, staring at the boy beside him endearingly.

Kai enters the room, trying not to make any noise as he approaches Taehyun’s bed. He gives his best friend a hug and a kiss on his forehead. He moves over and sits on the other side of the bed, facing Yeonjun’s head.

“Are you okay?” Kai whispers.

Taehyun nods, “Yeah, just got a little bit messed up I guess.”

Kai looks at him knowingly and down at Taehyun and Yeonjun’s clasped hands. He gives Taehyun a look, “Interesting…”

“Oh shut up.” Taehyun says, blushing deeply. He definitely was not expecting this from Yeonjun, he had thought that he didn’t care about him any more.

Taehyun feels his heart grow fonder of the boy seeing him look so vulnerable in front of him.

_‘Maybe Yeonjun is worth it.’_

Kai chats with Taehyun for a while, with him explaining how he ended up in that situation, the drama between him and Yeonjun and how they almost kissed. Kai quietly squealed into his arm, as the story got juicier.

“But Hyunnie, why won’t you just date him already? He _obviously_ likes you and cares a lot about you, do you not like him?” Kai asks his friend.

“I don’t know, Kai. Maybe we’re the same. Afraid of falling in love, afraid of being vulnerable with someone, afraid of showing your true self. I’m just so so scared. I don’t know if I deserve this.” Taehyun confesses, subconsciously holding Yeonjun’s hand tighter. “If I deserve him…”

“Listen Hyunnie, a while ago you had told me yourself to take the leap. To take more risks, to pick more chances. Once I did I felt so fucking amazing. It completely changed my outlook on a lot of things in my life. I would have never thought to join a dating event, to sit down and meet people, or to text a person back asking to meet them again.” Kai explains, “I would have never done those things if it weren’t for your push, so I want to make it up to you.” Kai stands up and walks over to Yeonjun’s side.

Taehyun looks at him cautiously, “Kai, whatever you are about to do, you better not do it.”

Kai smiles sneakily at his friend, “I’ll see you at home.” He taps on Yeonjun’s head before sprinting out of the room quickly.

Taehyun’s face scrunches in annoyance at his friend before turning his attention to the awakening boy beside him.

“M—mmm what?” Yeonjun grumbles, using his other hand to wipe the sleep from his eyes and never letting Taehyun’s hand go.

“Hi hyung.”

Yeonjun’s eyes light up upon seeing Taehyun. “T—Taehyun…you’re finally awake.”

Kai, outside the door, smiles upon seeing the scene unfold before him. He wants nothing in the world but to make his friend happy and he could clearly see that Yeonjun would bring him all the happiness on earth.

He readjusts himself and prepares to get back to his workplace.

His phone buzzes in his pocket, telling him he got a notification. Kai picks up his phone and mindlessly starts scrolling through social media, walking through the hallways.

When suddenly, he bumps into a person. Papers scatter out on the floor and his file case falls down with a loud thump. Kai scrambles to his knees, with the other guy just behind him

“Shit! I’m so so sorry. I wasn’t looking.” Kai quickly apologises.

“No no, it was my fault, I shouldn’t have been reading while walking.” The other guy speaks.

_‘Wait, why does that voice sound familiar?’_

“Huening Kai?”

Kai hears the other guy exclaim as he slowly looks up. He sees Soobin’s equally shocked face in front of him. Suddenly, Kai remembers that Soobin told him he was a med student. He was dressed up in a scrubs outfit, with his ID on a sling around his neck.

He reads the name on the ID.

_Choi Soobin._

That’s it. That was the name Kai was looking for.

_‘Choi Soobin, I finally found you.’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dun. They finally meet face to face again. Also, Taehyun finally opening up about his feelings (yay). What will happen in the next chapter? Stay tuned. I'm already in the process of writing it so hopefully it will be out by next week. Thank you so much for reading and as always comments and kudos are very much appreciated <3


	6. The Reconciliation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soobin and Kai confront each other. Kai takes the leap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Thank you so much for all the love I received in the previous chapter. I hope you will love this one as much as I did. Thanks to Jarif for helping me edit this chapter. This is also a solo Sookai chapter by the way. Hope you enjoy! <3

 

The air feels very thick. Kai feels like he can't breathe.

Soobin’s eyes widen at him, “Can I talk to you?” He croaks out.

He thrusts the papers into Soobin hands and prepares to run away when suddenly he feels a pair of hands grab his wrist.

“Don’t. Please don’t go.” He looks back to see Soobin’s eyes glistening, unshed tears forming. Kai felt his stomach sink, he can’t believe he was running away again. Always running away from his problems.

He takes a deep breath and faces Soobin, biting his lip. “Fine. Let’s go." 'I just need to get this over with. Just like Taehyun said, I need to let him go.'

They move to a nearby bench near a small park in the middle of the hospital. Soobin readjusts himself, he cannot believe he had run into Huening Kai. The one person he needed to talk to the most. ‘The universe is most definitely behind this. I should stop messing this up.’

They look at each other uncertainly, “So….”

Soobin lets out a cough, “So um how have you uh been?”

Kai shrugs, not sure about what to feel, “I don’t know. My friend got into a small accident at work today so I’m a bit worried about him.”

Soobin blinks, “Oh is that why you’re here toda-“

“Why didn’t you text me back, Hyung?” Kai interrupts, sounding hurt.

Soobin looks at him confusingly, “What do you mean?”

Kai sighs in frustration, “Why are you playing dumb? You didn’t text me back a few days ago. I actually dared to send that to you and I didn’t even get a response. I don’t understand why you played all those mind games with me. Do you hate me that much?”

Soobin peers around the room, _‘Am I in an alternate dimension?’_

“Huh…I don’t understand. Kai, I haven’t received any of your texts at all.” Soobin replies.

Kai stares at him for a moment, seeing if he was bluffing before deflating back in his seat in confusion.

“W—What? I surely did. Here, take a look.” He pulls out his phone and scrolls through his messages, finding the message thread with Soobin’s number. “It says you blocked me.”

Soobin’s looks at the screen strangely. “When the hell did that happen?” He frantically grabs his phone and scrolls through his message app. There were no unknown numbers. He decides to check the list of blocked numbers and found one that matched Kai’s number.

“Huh? That’s weird, it says here that you’re blocked on my phone.” Soobin scratches his head in confusion. He had no idea what the hell was going on because he absolutely did not block Kai.

“Yeah, because you blocked me."

“I didn’t block you, Kai! I promise you I didn't. In fact, I waited for your text too day and night." Soobin looks down at his shoes,"I thought you were creeped out by all my gifts and you didn’t want to contact me.” Soobin grabs Kai’s hand subconsciously.

Kai gasps, “So, you don’t hate me?”

Soobin shakes his head frantically, “Never. All this time I’ve just been waiting for you." Soobin bites his lips, "Back at the event, I knew we had this... genuine connection and when you didn't text me back I thought I-I was such a stupid fool for thinking you felt the same way."

Kai can feel himself start to breakdown. Once again he had been wrong about this boy. His mindset has been so fucked that he turned this innocent boy into a monster. It was all just a misunderstanding.

“Fuck. Fuck, I’m so sorry, Hyung.” Kai breaks down in Soobin’s arms, the stress of everything that happened today, getting to him. "Of course I feel the same way, I was just so scared and dumb and I didn't know what to do."

“Hey hey, it’s all gonna be okay. It’s just a misunderstanding.” Soobin lifts Kai’s chin with his finger and stares at him endearingly.

“N—Not just that. I ran away from you in the Valentines Day event too, I should have stayed to listen to you but I was such a fucking chicken.” Kai sniffles, “I don’t understand why you haven’t moved on from me already. I’m such a fucking wreck.”

Soobin smiles at that.

“Because…I haven’t stopped thinking about you.” Soobin confesses, “I haven’t felt this way about someone in the longest time and I couldn’t even think for one second about letting you go.”

He moves closer to Kai, wrapping his arm around him, “You’re special to me, Kai. Back at the event, I felt something. I know you did too. I don’t want to let you go without even giving it a try.”

Kai buries his head in Soobin’s chest, feeling overwhelmed with all the love he was receiving. Except for his aunt and Taehyun, this was one of the few times he truly felt like he was a person capable of loving.

“I’m so so sorry. I'm sorry for being so naive.” Kai says, his voice muffled by Soobin’s shirt.

Soobin giggles above him, his other arm wrapping around Kai’s waist, holding him tightly.

“Stop saying foolish things dummy…” Soobin plays with the hem of Kai’s shirt, “Now, can we exchange contacts so we don’t ever lose each other ever again?”

Kai wipes his tears and nods at Soobin, laughing at how the universe is playing with them. Kai grabs Soobin’s phone and inputs his number, and setting the contact name as _Kai <3._

Soobin blushes, doing the same thing with Kai’s phone.

They sit together in comfortable silence for a while, letting Kai calm down.

"Kai, why were you in the hospital again by the way?" Soobin inquires.

“My friend…he accidentally got injured while working. He’s with his boss right now, who he’s also in love with.” Kai grins, thinking about what Taehyun and Yeonjun were up to now since he last left them.

“Aw, I’m sorry, I hope he’s okay. This might be very tough on you. You can talk to me about anything alright?” Soobin rubs Kai’s arm endearingly.

Kai feels like he’s in heaven. He was just so so completely wrong about this boy. Every second spent with him, Kai could feel the wall of doubt his mind had been building completely shatter like glass. He feels comfortable.

_He feels safe._

He doesn’t know everything about Soobin yet, but he feels like he doesn’t have to.

Soobin feels his phone buzz beside him so he unwillingly untangles himself from Kai to go check it.

_‘Dude where the hell are you? We need to get back to work quickly.’_ Soobin’s eyes widen as he reads the message sent by his classmate. _Shit_. He had forgotten all about work today.

He looks down sadly at the little angel looking up at him curiously. He brings his hand and caresses his cheek, trying to find a way to deliver the bad news.

“Kai, I don’t want any of this to end soon but I have to get back to work. Will you be okay?” Soobin bites his lip, worrying the boy below him.

Kai chuckles at him, “Of course! I don’t want you to get fired y’know. Plus, we’ll have plenty of time ahead of us. I am going to miss you though.” He stands up and offers his hand to help Soobin up as well.

Soobin happily takes it and grins at Kai. “I’m going to miss you more. I’ll text you okay?” He squeezes Kai’s hand before he takes off in the other direction.

Kai sighs sadly and starts packing up his things. He has to go back to his work as well.

He leaves the hospital and takes the first bus to his school. He sits back on the farthest seat and closes his eyes, smiling to himself. He still can’t believe that things turned out this way. It feels almost too good to be true, but now Kai was smarter. He knew not to overreact immediately and to hear the other side of the story.

His phone pings and a message flashes on the screen.

It was from Soobin.

_‘I miss you already xx’_

Kai grins before excitedly texting the boy back, _‘I miss you more.'_

He sits in silence for a moment, thinking over something before he hurriedly texts Soobin again _. 'I’ll see you soon xx’_

_‘Wait, what do you mean soon?’_

Kai smirks, _‘What time do you get off?’_

_‘Around 6 pm. Why?’_

_‘Just wondering. Good luck with your work!’_ Kai shuts his phone off quickly, a plan forming in his head.

_He_ closes his eyes again, the same boy on his mind. He can’t wait to surprise him later.

* * *

 

Kai immediately races back home to clean himself up and dress properly. He wanted to do something for Soobin as well, especially after everything he made him go through.

He checks the time, it was almost 6 pm. Kai takes the bus back to the hospital, his stomach somersaulting, in a good way.

He enters the hospital slowly and takes a seat back on their bench, waiting for Soobin’s shift to be over. He plays on his phone for a while before sensing a presence in front of him.

He looks up to see a boy with the most beautiful brown eyes he’s ever seen, coupled with a killer smile. “Kai? Is that why you asked when my shift would be over?”

Soobin looked absolutely exhausted from all the work done today but upon seeing Kai, he feels like a new man who can take on the world.

Kai shyly smiles at him, “I wanted to take you out. Do you wanna go somewhere and eat?” He asks in a quiet voice.

"But I look like such a mess." He uses his hands to gesture to his current state.

Kai looks at him up and down before smirking at him. "You look perfect."

Soobin blushes heavily, ashamed at how flustered he got, “T—then great! I—I would absolutely love to go out. Let’s go.” He extends his hand out for Kai to take, which he does enthusiastically.

Kai squeezes his hand, “Where do you wanna go?”

Soobin chuckles at the smaller boy, squeezing his hand back, “Anywhere, I don’t care. I just wanna be with you.”

Kai turns away, feeling his face heat up and his heart beating faster.

_This boy was unreal._

This boy might be the real deal. He might be it. Kai can already tell that he can tell this boy just about anything. All his dreams, all his desires, his fears, everything.

He understands that this might be it. Kai is finally going to know the boy behind that beautiful face, and by the end of the day, he knows that he would be in love.

“Hello? Kai are you alright?” Soobin asks Kai, placing his hand on his cheek, looking at him with genuine concern.

Kai is pretty sure he had started to melt at that very moment.

He snaps out of it and nods at the boy beside him, “Lead the way.” Soobin grins at him and they start walking outside to leave the hospital.

Kai didn’t mind where they ate. All that matters was how beautiful this boy beside him looked tonight. How he just lights up when he was telling Kai about a funny story from work. How they made a few stops before arriving at the restaurant because Soobin saw a cute dog.

They ended up going to some fast-food place.

Kai feels like he’s floating in a dream, he barely even looked at the name of the restaurant they entered, his mind only focusing on the boy in front of him.

All he could think about was how at ease he felt around Soobin now. Kai thought that he would be having multiple panic attacks again now that he was eating with someone he likes. This was what always happened in the past. Which is why he thought that he would have another freakout and leave Soobin once again.

But that wave of panic never came.

Everything about Soobin, sitting in front of him, looking at Kai like he was the moon and the stars just made him melt even more.

Then they started talking and asking things about each other and everything about him just made Kai feel more and more in love.

They discussed their shared love for music. Kai giggles at how Soobin’s eyes lit up excitedly when he was gushing about his favorite music artist, Bebe Rexha. He tells Soobin about Shawn Mendes as well and about how amazing his songs are. They both find out they love Adele and vows to listen to her album together sometime.

Soobin tells Kai about his childhood, about how he was teased for being so tall. About how he got the nickname, cucumber. Kai laughs at him, promising to never call him that if he doesn’t want to.

The more they found out things they had in common, the more Kai knew that he would never meet someone like Soobin ever again. They talked about everything, even the sad stuff.

Kai learned that Soobin was the oldest child in his family, his father had passed, leaving only his mother to take care of her children. He also learned about how Soobin had sworn to become a doctor so he could take care of his mother when she would become ill. Kai felt his heart break listening to him talk about his father, and how he felt so helpless not being able to help him with his illness.

Soobin held Kai’s hand as he talked about his past, with his abusive mother and how he had never even met his own father before. He comforted Kai who shed a few tears talking about his fears with falling in love and feeling like he was so unlovable.

That was at that moment that Soobin had a new goal for himself. To make this beautiful boy in front of him feel like the most loved person on the planet.

It wasn’t often that Kai was able to open up to people. Having trust issues, his options were usually limited to just Taehyun and some of his cousins but with Soobin, everything was so different.

He was basically pouring out his soul to this man. He feels so blessed that someone as beautiful and perfect as Soobin genuinely wanted to get to know him.

All night, they talked and talked and talked. About everything, from TV Shows to their work, to their friends, and Kai never wanted it to stop.

They had no choice however when a tired-looking employee walked over and told them that they were closing in a few minutes. Kai glanced at his watch, it was almost 2 am.

He didn’t realize how late it had been, or how early, rather.

Kai looks at the boy in front of him, “Shit. I’m so sorry for keeping you up so late. You must have been so tired already from your shift.”

Soobin shakes his head, “I’m fine Kai.” He grabs Kai’s hand again, “I’m more than fine. I’m so so so glad we got to do this.”

“Me too. But you and I need some sleep. I can’t let you risk your studies for me.” Kai stands up and helps Soobin up as well.

“Fine, you’re right. If I come to class late one more time, Dr. Rodriguez is probably going to castrate me.” He lets out a wheezy laugh. “Come on, let’s take you home.”

Even in the car, the two held hands, afraid to let go as if it was admitting that this night was coming to a close. Kai then guides Soobin to his apartment, snickering at him whenever he made a wrong turn. Finally, they had arrived and Kai didn’t know what to say.

“So.” He starts.

“So.” Soobin replies.

“Hyung, can I ask you something?” Kai asks, looking down shyly at his jeans.

“Yeah?” Soobin glances at the boy beside him, placing his hand on Kai’s hair, mindlessly brushing through it.

_'That feels nice.'_

“I—Um…What—What is—What are we?” Kai finishes, raising his head to look at Soobin directly.

Soobin smiles knowingly, “What do you mean?”

“Is this like…a gay thing?” Kai finally blurts out.

“Well,” Soobin looks up, as if in deep thought, “do you feel attracted to me?”

Kai snorts, “That would be the understatement of the year.” His eyes immediately bulge out. He didn’t realize he said that out loud.

He giggles at Soobin’s reaction, enjoying how his blush had reached his neck.

“Do you maybe um— I don’t know, feel the same-“

“I think you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen, Kai.” Soobin interrupts him, reaching for his hand and intertwining them together.

Kai feels his soul leave his body upon hearing Soobin’s words. It almost feels unreal.

“Hey, why are you crying?” Soobin asks worryingly.

Kai brings his other hand up to his cheek, feeling wetness spread over them. He didn’t even realize he was crying.

“I just—-This is all too much. I just—I haven’t felt this way in a really long time. And I just wanted to thank you.” Kai confesses, holding the other boy’s hand tighter.

Soobin uses his finger to lift the boy’s chin, looking at him with so much awe, “I should be the one thanking you. This was…one of the few nights where I haven’t felt like a robot. I’ve been so emotionless ever since my last break up that I—I almost forgot how to function as a human being with feelings.”

Kai nods along his heart aching looking at how broken Soobin looked. He then remembers what Taehyun told him.

_To take the leap._

If this isn’t the perfect time then Kai doesn’t know when it is.

He takes a hold of Soobin’s face, leans forward and places the most delicate kiss on his cheek. He then wraps his arms around Soobin, placing himself on his lap. “Let’s never leave each other again, okay?” He asks in Soobin’s ear, warmth seeping up his neck to his cheeks.

It was a bit crowded in the car but none of them complained. Soobin, still appearing to be frozen, just gave a little nod, not trusting himself to talk right now. Placing his hands on Kai’s waist, he pulls him closer, placing his head on Kai’s chest.

He feels the erratic heartbeat in Kai’s chest, before leaning upward and kissing Kai on his cheek. “Are you free this weekend?”

Kai nods, ignoring all the thoughts going through his head brought upon by how close they were pressed together.

“I would like to take you out. Not just to some cheap fast-food place. To a real restaurant, like a date.”

“I would love that.” Kai smiles endearingly at the boy below him, who gives him the biggest grin back.

They stare at each other in awe and excitement for a while, enjoying the warmth shared by their close bodies. Soobin places his thumb on Kai’s lip, relishing how pretty and plump it is. Kai’s eyes immediately dart towards Soobin’s lips and back to his eyes, as if asking permission.

Soobin almost laughed. He can’t believe the most beautiful boy in the world was asking for permission to kiss him.

Soobin licks his lips before leaning forward and Kai doing the same.

Suddenly, an alarm goes off from Soobin’s phone. Not expecting the noise, the two immediately scramble out of their position with Kai accidentally hitting his head on the ceiling.

“Shit! Are you okay? I’m so sorry, I think that’s my 3 am alarm.” Soobin apologizes, grabbing his phone quickly and turning off the alarm.

_‘Shit. I missed my chance.’_

“No no, I’m alright." Kai says, rubbing his head, "I guess you should be going home then. You still have classes tomorrow right? I’m sorry again for making you stay up this late.”

“Are you kidding? This was literally one of the best nights ever. Plus, I’m sure Dr. Garcia won’t be mad I’m late.” Soobin snickers, turning on the engine off his car.

“So, I guess this is it. Promise you’ll text me right?” Kai questions, gathering his things.

“Of course, angel. I’ll see you for our date soon okay?” Soobin promises.

Kai smiles sadly at the boy beside him, pouting a bit. He didn’t want to end this night yet.

“I’ll see you soon.” Kai gives Soobin one last kiss on the cheek before exiting the car.

He turns back when he hears the car window go down.

He sees Soobin’s face pop up, "Dream of me tonight, yeah?” He asks, smirking at Kai.

Kai rolls his eyes playfully before nodding shyly.

Kai goes to sleep that night, his heart full and his mind filled with dreams of a certain boy.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, Soobin and Kai are one. Will a certain person mess with their relationship again? Find out in the next chapter! Can you believe we're already half-way through this story? Thank you for reading. Any comment or kudos will always be appreciated. See you soon! <3


	7. The Apprehension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taehyun faces Yeonjun at his job in the aftermath of the accident. Kai and Taehyun have a heart to heart talk at home. Soobin consults Beomgyu on his incoming date with Kai.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I'm back again with another chapter. I hope you're having a great day today. BTW, this is the longest chapter I've written for this story yet so I hope you'll enjoy it. <3

Taehyun would have never thought that he’d live to see the day his boss making him a coffee. Often times, it would always be the opposite which makes sense because he was his assistant. But seeing his boss so enthusiastically shush, sit him down and make him coffee was messing with Taehyun’s brain.

It had only been three days since the accident. 

Three days since the doctor gave him the go signal to go home and rest. 

Three days since Yeonjun promised Taehyun that starting from that day, he would only treat Taehyun with the absolute care and respect.

At first, Taehyun was thrilled, he was able to keep his job and he had a _whipped_ Yeonjun tending to his every need. He thought that Yeonjun would just help him out by giving him lesser jobs to do or by giving him lots of day-offs. But later he found out when he first came back to work that it was just entirely different. 

Taehyun can tell that Yeonjun was trying his best to absolve his guilt. He can’t really blame him, in fact, he would probably be doing the exact same thing in his position. 

He ignores the worrying stares whenever he would admit to the older that he feels a little dizzy. Besides that, Taehyun was absolutely fine. There isn’t anything he hates more in this world than being babied by people. He tried his best to explain to Yeonjun that he shouldn’t feel guilty and that it isn’t his fault. 

But, once again, Yeonjun didn’t listen to Taehyun and just kept on treating him like a porcelain doll who might break even from the slightest touch. 

Which is why, Taehyun grumbly accepts the coffee from Yeonjun, glaring at him slightly. The older just smiles at him, pleased at how Taehyun wasn’t fighting about their situation anymore. 

“So, how’s the coffee I made? I don’t really make it a lot since I have you to do it for me so I hope it tastes alright.” Yeonjun grins at the boy below him, ushering him to take a sip.

It tasted bitter. 

_ Very bitter…and a little watery. _

Taehyun frowned at the cup, _‘How could someone mess up a simple cup of coffee?’_

He instead gives the boy above him a forced smile, too tired to argue this early in the day. “It tastes fine, Hyung. Thanks.” 

Yeonjun’s grin widens, “I knew it. You know they don’t call me the jack of all trades for nothing.” 

Taehyun rolls his eyes and places his coffee back on the table and instead focuses on the paperwork Yeonjun gave him. 

The big show was coming up so soon and since he was gone for at least four days, he had to catch up on a whole lot of work. He rests his pen on the table, his head filled with too many thoughts that made it very difficult to revise some of the scenes.

“Are you ready for the big show, Hyung?” 

Yeonjun shrugs, “I always am. You’re gonna be fine enough to help out right?” 

“Yes of course. I’m not a wounded animal y’know.” Taehyun grumbles, flipping over the script revisions.

“But you are, Hyunnie. And it is my duty to protect you from harm. A promise is a promise you know.” Yeonjun grins at the scowling boy below him.

Taehyun sighs in frustration but decides to not have this argument again this early in the morning. He thinks back to their other arguments. 

“Hyung, we have another show again soon, right? In the next few months?” 

Yeonjun hummed, “Yes. Why’d you ask?”

Taehyun bites his lip, “Do you maybe think it’s time for me to y’know, go up on stage with you guys.” 

Taehyun can feel his face heat up in embarrassment when Yeonjun didn’t respond immediately. He had been working up the courage to ask that again after being shut down multiple times. He had been Yeonjun’s assistant for so long, always behind the scenes, always in the sidelines. But now, there was nothing more in the world he wanted to do than to perform on stage. 

Taehyun didn’t even understand the reason why Yeonjun kept declining him. He had passed all the written ‘exams’ Yeonjun made for him and he had done really well in fake auditions. But still, Yeonjun kept shutting his plans down by telling him he wasn’t ready yet. 

Taehyun flinches slightly as he senses Yeonjun approach him. He’s silently praying he wouldn’t get rejected again. 

“I’m sorry, Hyunnie. I can’t let you do that yet.” Yeonjun’s voice is silent, almost as if he had admitted to a crime. 

_ ‘Fuck. I knew it.’ _

“Can you at the very least tell me why? And please don’t give me that same excuse again.” Taehyun faces the boy, blinking back his tears that were beginning to form. 

“I just—I think you still need a little bit more time,” Yeonjun replies, sounding unsure himself. He knows that wasn’t the reason why he wasn’t letting Taehyun join yet. 

He knows and sees how much potential Taehyun has that it scares him. Yeonjun wants nothing but for him to succeed, of course.

But, he knows that once that happens, Taehyun will no longer be his assistant, which means that he’ll be leaving Yeonjun. 

And it terrifies him that he’s going to lose Taehyun. Still, he feels so silly being this territorial over someone who isn’t even his. This has been one of the things haunting him. He had always kept it hidden and he’s glad that Taehyun doesn’t ask about it often. 

But now, after everything that happened especially with the accident, Yeonjun feels even more guilty denying Taehyun his happiness. He knows he’s being extremely selfish but he couldn’t find himself to tell Taehyun the truth yet. 

Yeonjun looks back at the pair of eyes looking at him, his heart breaking.

Taehyun looks down sadly, “Fine. I get it. It’s fine.” He decides to take another swig from the coffee Yeonjun made, swallowing it quickly.

‘ _Yep, still bitter.’_

Taehyun feels a hand placed on his arm, “You gonna be okay, Hyunnie?” Yeonjun’s voice asks hesitantly behind him. 

Taehyun can feel himself tense up a bit at Yeonjun’s touch. Why was he feeling this way? 

 “Yes,” Taehyun hesitantly replies, “now go away so I can focus on this work.” 

Yeonjun chuckles and pats his back, “Alright alright, just call me if you need anything.” He moves beside Taehyun and bends down to his level, “I’m always here for you okay? Whatever you need.” 

_ ‘Liar.’ _

Taehyun groans internally, giving Yeonjun a nod and a small smile. 

“All right, I’m gonna go and go over my lines with the other actors okay? I’ll be back soon.” Yeonjun runs his hands through Taehyun’s hair, brushing it to the side. 

Taehyun gives him another nod, eyes still locked onto the script.

He waits until Yeonjun is out of the room before he stands up and quickly pours down Yeonjun’s bitter coffee down the sink. 

_ ‘This has to end soon. I can’t deal with Yeonjun like this anymore.’  _

—

It looked like a hurricane had rampaged Kai’s room. 

Clothes are everywhere, on the floor, on the chairs, especially the bed which was laid out on every single surface. 

Kai poses in front of his mirror, wearing the eighth outfit he tried on today. He forces a smile looking at himself but ends up feeling dejected. 

_ ‘Still ugly. Why am I so ugly?’  _ He quickly removes his outfit before moving on to grab the next one. He can’t believe he’s fussing about what to wear for him and Soobin’s date tomorrow. He feels himself start to shrink again into that bad mental state when suddenly he remembers that he has Soobin’s phone number now. 

Ever since that night, they haven’t gone a day without texting each other. With every single ping his phone makes, he can feel himself get a little burst of happiness. 

He still feels like this whole situation was unreal. 

He just could not believe that he was this excited to text a boy back. That was another thing that Kai fully realized when being with Soobin. 

He liked guys. 

Not just any guy though, he liked Soobin. And as crazy it is for Kai, Soobin likes him back. Which is why Kai was stressing over what to wear on their first formal date this weekend, afraid that he might scare Soobin away if he dressed as he would always do. 

In times like this, he would always ask Taehyun for help but he’s still at work, therefore, the next person Kai had in mind was no one else but Soobin. 

He hesitantly grabs his phone before sending the boy a message.

** “Hyung, I can’t go tomorrow. :<“ **

_ “Why not?” _

** “I don’t have anything to wear.” ** Kai sadly looks at the pile of clothes he rejected before looking back at his phone screen.

_ “Well…you don’t really have to wear anything you know.” _ Soobin cheekily replies.

Kai could feel his face heating up from Soobin’s response.

** “Are you saying you want to see me naked?”  **

_ “All I’m saying is, if you want to join a nudist colony then I completely support you.”  _ Kai could basically hear Soobin chuckling at his phone. 

** “You should join me then.”  **

_ “Only when you’re ready _ .” Kai places his phone back on his bed, quietly squealing about how their conversation was going. He tried to shut off any dirty thoughts about him and Soobin and focused on the main task at hand. 

He hears his phone go off again, signaling another text from Soobin. 

_ “For real though, what you wear doesn’t change the way I see you, y’know.” _

God, this boy was everything. 

** “What do you mean?” **

_ “I like you. Even if you’re wearing a freaking trashbag to our date, my feelings won’t change.” _

** “Yeah, looking at my clothing options now, I might as well just wear a trash bag. Promise you won’t run away?” **

_ “Would never dream of it. ;)” _

Kai sets his phone down, at least the problems with the clothes were settled. For the actual date, however, Kai had no idea what to do. 

Things were different when they first ate out together, which was completely spontaneous and everything felt natural. It hadn’t even sunk in with Kai that they actual spent time together up until the next morning. 

But now that an actual date was set and Soobin was highly anticipating this, he can’t help but feel anxious about what to do on a date. 

Kai lets his head rest on the edge of the bed, his legs tucked and folded whilst a million scenarios were running through his head. 

What if he forgets how to talk and just clams up the whole dinner with Soobin?

What if he forgets his table manners and just completely gross out Soobin? What if he forgot how spoons work?

What would they even talk about? What if there were multiple awkward walls of silence? What if Soobin gets too bored with him?

Kai gasps, what if he was accidentally set on fire?

He groans, hitting the side of his head lightly, wishing for the dumb thoughts to stop ruining his vision for the date. 

Kai was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he barely registers the front door opening, with Taehyun arriving at their apartment.

“Kai?” Taehyun calls out, setting his bag on the counter. 

Kai picks up the sound and immediately races to his friend to embrace him in a hug.

“Hyunnie! I need your help.” Kai says in a small voice, clutching Taehyun tightly.

Taehyun rolls his eyes at his friend. “Alright alright, get off me first.” He gives Kai a small pat on the back before removing his arms. 

Kai smiles apologetically, “Sorry. Just missed you a lot. How are you doing anyway?”

Taehyun shrugs, “I feel fine but I’m kind of getting sick of being treated like I can’t take care of myself.” 

“Do you wanna talk about it?” Kai raises his eyebrows, gesturing to the couch. 

Taehyun nods and joins his friend to sit on the couch. 

They both plop down on the couch, with Kai jokingly helping him out by forming a protective shield around his head while he sits down.

“Stop it, you idiot.” He slaps Kai’s arm lightly, shaking his head at his laughing friend beside him. 

“So, what’s wrong?” Kai questions.

“I’m…I’m just so tired of feeling like this Kai. Look, I know that people mean well but when they treat me like I’m made of glass, it…makes me feel so weak.” Taehyun looks down at his lap, “And I don’t want to feel weak.” 

Growing up, Taehyun had always tried his best to be there for his friends and family. Always vowing to be the strong one and protect them from any harm. Being on the other side of the field was messing him up really badly and making him have very conflicted feelings. 

Kai pouts at his friend, “Does this have something to do with Yeonjun?”

Taehyun nods, “Yeah. I don’t like him when he’s treating me this way. It’s just…not the same Yeonjun that I had a stupid crush on. I just want things to go back to normal. I miss him teasing me every single day when we would have our little fights, when he…would just treat me like a normal human being.” 

“Well, can you even blame him? He’s basically at fault for putting you in this state. He’s probably just trying to make it up to you. Just…give it time, Hyunnie.” Kai advises.

Taehyun raises his eyebrows, “Since when were you this mature?”

“Shut up, I’m being serious. Just don’t be too tough on him okay? He’s probably really broken inside knowing that he put the person he cares about the most in this situation.” 

Taehyun groans, leaning back and closing his eyes. “Fine. I’ll be patient with him. Let’s hope this won’t last till the next week because my patience is not that big.” 

Kai snickers at his friend, “Don’t worry, he’ll come around soon and you’ll be back to hating each other but liking each other secretly.” 

Taehyun sticks his tongue out at Kai mockingly, “One more peep about that from you and I’ll make us twins.” He says, pointing to his bandaged forehead. Kai annoyingly gives his friend a kiss on the forehead before sitting back down smugly.

“Tell me your problem by the way,” Taehyun asks, wiping Kai’s spit from his forehead.

“Okay so, I have a date with Soobin this weekend. It’s supposed to be no big deal for me anymore because we’ve already hung out before but it just feels like it’s the biggest deal in the world.” Kai continues, “I don’t know what to do, Hyunnie. You know I haven’t been on a date for a long time. I’m just scared I’m going to do something stupid that’ll make him hate me.” 

Taehyun sighs, “Kai…like you said, you guys already went out together once. What difference is this?” 

“Well, that one doesn’t really count because I just kind of surprised him and it was just spontaneous.”

“Did the same anxious thoughts rush to your head when you were with him that night?” Taehyun inquires.

Kai looks up, thinking deeply before shaking his head. “I don’t think so. I just focused on wanting to get to know him and the anxious thoughts never came at all.”

Taehyun looks at his friend expectingly, “You know the solution, right?”

Kai leans back in realization, he shouldn’t be nervous about the date at all. He was going on a date with Soobin. Someone he already knows a lot of, someone he feels safe with, someone he feels like he could tell anything. 

Kai almost laughs at how stupid he was being, how he had built this whole scenario from his fear of dating. 

“You’re right Hyunnie. God, this is Soobin we’re talking about. Why am I being so scared all of a sudden?” 

“Coz’ you’re an idiot that’s why.” Taehyun smirks.

Kai nods along, “I might just agree with you on that one. Who knows? Soobin probably isn’t even scared at all about our date.”

\--

“Beomgyu!” Soobin closes the front door to Beomgyu’s apartment quickly, scrambling to find his friend. 

It was after their exams and Beomgyu had surprisingly finished his test early and told the other that he would be going home. Soobin, being the good student that he was, focused on his studies first before worrying about the date. But now that most of their exams were over, he found himself in a pool of anxiety about what to do with Kai this weekend.

Therefore, he fled to his nearest friend that would possibly have an idea of how to deal with this.

Alright, maybe he was being a little overdramatic. In fact, he and Kai had already been on a date before. Or did that not count? Regardless, he’s pretty impressed with himself for actually making it this long in the week without any freak-outs yet. 

But now, the date was tomorrow. 

And now, that little bubble of stress that Soobin had tried his best to keep under control had now burst.

Soobin drops his bag and immediately crashes on the couch. 

“God Kai is gonna hate me. He’s gonna find me annoying and creepy and overwhelming again.” Soobin whines into Beogmyu’s throw pillow, his long body barely fitting on the couch. 

“S—Soobin?” Beomgyu asks, looking at the boy sprawled out in front of him, “What the hell are you doing here?” 

Soobin groans in response, lifting his head up from the pillow to face his friend. 

“I’m doomed, Gyu. _Fucking_ doomed.” He says in the most defeated manner before plopping his face back on the pillow.

Beomgyu snickers at his friend, “Did the exam go that bad? I thought you had studied extensively?”

Soobin tilts his head to the side, his cheek pushed up against the throw pillow. He looked absolutely adorable. Beomgyu blushes, admiring how cute the boy in front of him was. 

“No, it’s not that Gyu. It’s just…I have a date tomorrow.” 

Beomgyu’s face twists in confusion, “A—A date? What do you mean?”

“I have a date with Kai tomorrow and I’m freaking out, I don’t know what to do.” He mumbles out before groaning back into the pillow in frustration. 

_ ‘K—Kai?’ _

“Wait you met Kai? Didn’t he ghost you?” Beomgyu chewed his lip nervously, there was no way Soobin had contacted Kai, he definitely made sure to block him and delete the message sent by him. 

“Wait, I haven’t told you yet? Gosh, I was probably so busy with the exams and everything but yeah, Kai and I met again back at the Hospital during one of my shifts. Totally insane.” Soobin smiles, still in disbelief it happened. “After that, we hung out and kind of hit it off. We planned an actual date this weekend which is why I’m freaking out.”

Beomgyu can feel himself start to break down. How in the world are they still finding each other? Even after all the sabotaging Beomgyu had done, they still ended up together. What does this mean? Does the Universe hate him? Is this a sign to try even harder? 

Soobin stares amusingly at his friend who had a spaced-out look on his face. “Hello? Earth to Beomgyu?” He waves his hand in front of his face which seems to do the trick as Beomgyu pulls out of the trance. 

“W—what? Sorry.” 

“I said, I’m freaking out because I have no idea what to do tomorrow. We already met up once to hang out but it was really spontaneous and I was too tired to have a panic attack.” Soobin stares up to the ceiling, “He’s so amazing, Gyu. I think I really like him. I don’t want to mess this up.” He says slowly, putting emphasis on each word.

Beomgyu feels like all the air got knocked out of his lungs. His heart is twisting in all kinds of direction and not in a good way. 

_ ‘This isn’t fair. Why is Kai the one who gets Soobin? Kai wasn’t there for him during the hard times, Kai never sacrificed anything just to make him happy. It shouldn’t be him. It should be me.’ _ He shuts off his thoughts before Soobin notices again. 

He clears his throat, “And why are you asking me for help?” 

“You know how we have dinners together a lot right? Can you tell me any kind of dumb quirks I do that annoy you?” Soobin asks shyly. 

Beomgyu scrunches his nose, thinking back to all the time they had dinner together. Beomgyu hadn’t really noticed any quirks when he’s with Soobin. All he sees when they’re together is his beautiful eyes and sparkling smile. And how he laughs at Beomgyu’s jokes and lightly slaps his arms, how he feeds him his food sometimes when he feels full. How they spend most of the night just talking about the most random things. 

_ ‘This isn’t fair.’  _

“I don’t know, I honestly don’t really see any quirks that annoy me.” Beomgyu confesses, “Maybe we can try having dinner tonight and have a practice date?”

“Oh my god! You’re a genius. That way I can have a clearer idea of what to do during my date tomorrow.” Soobin excitedly springs up from the couch and walks to Beomgyu’s kitchen, raiding his fridge for some pasta. 

“You don’t mind me cooking right?” Beomgyu hears his friend yell out. 

“Not at all. Just don’t burn down my kitchen like you almost did last time.” He giggles, before following Soobin in the kitchen. 

_ ‘I can still get him back. I’m going to convince him that he’s better off with me.’ _

An hour passes and Soobin and Beomgyu are now sat at the table, in front of them are freshly cooked pasta with a lit candle in the middle. They decided to turn off all the lights as well so that Soobin would feel more comfortable in the ‘date setting’.

“This is nice, huh?” Beomgyu begins, blushing at their current situation. He takes a look at Soobin, looking beautiful as ever, his features getting more accentuated from the light of the flame.

Soobin grins, “Yeah, it is. So, what do I do now?” 

“You ask me about my day and I do the same.” 

“A—alright, how was your day, Gyu?” 

Beomgyu smiles, “My day went fine, Hyung. I had exams that I think I did well in. I had a chicken sandwich for lunch and I watched some of the new releases on Netflix. How about you?” 

“Wait, I feel like something is missing.” Soobin pouts. 

Beomgyu’s eyes flicker to his hand on the table. “Maybe this?” He gingerly stretches his own before taking Soobin’s hand in his and intertwining their fingers together.

Soobin tenses up slightly, “A—Are you sure about this?” 

Beomgyu smirks at him, “Yes. Holding hands is an essential part of the date. It makes you feel even more connected with each other.” He rubs his thumb soothingly around the back of Soobin’s hand, “It’s to get you more into the dating mood.” 

Soobin listens intently, letting Beomgyu treat him like this. A little part of him is telling him to stop this immediately but another part of him is convincing him that Beomgyu is just being a good friend and helping him out on his date. 

“Now what?” 

Beomgyu takes hold of his fork and stabs his noodles. “Now, we begin our date.” 

Hours pass as both of them eat dinner together and have their practice date. Soobin can feel himself enjoying the experience more and more as time goes on. Beomgyu even managed to get him to drink some wine, telling him that he’ll feel more at ease with some alcohol in the system. 

Beomgyu had just finished telling Soobin another funny story from school when they notice how late is already. 

Soobin smiles at Beomgyu, feeling a little tipsy, “Hey, thanks for tonight, Gyu. I think I’m ready for tomorrow now.” He unclasps their hands and begins to lean forward to blow out the candle. 

Beomgyu stops him midway, “W—wait! We still haven’t finished the date yet.” 

Soobin looks at him confusingly, “There’s still more we haven’t done?”

Beomgyu nods and motions Soobin to stand up. They meet halfway beside the table. Beomgyu presses himself closer to him, moving the almost empty wine bottle in the middle of the table so that it won’t fall off. 

“What should I do know?” Soobin looks down at his shorter friend with only a little space between them.

“Close your eyes,” Beomgyu whispers even though it’s only the two of them in the room.

Soobin follows his orders, his wine-tainted brain not functioning faster enough for him to realize the current situation. 

Beomgyu smiles at him, glancing up at his plump lips before standing up on his tiptoes and leaning in. 

_ ‘You’re mine and only mine, Choi Soobin.’ _

Soobin, upon closing his eyes, can feel all his other senses get heightened. He hears the soft crackle of the candle burning. He smells the left-over pasta sauce on his plate. And, he feels a soft pair of hands placed on his cheeks. Out of instinct, he puts his hands on the other person’s waist.

_ ‘Wait, this isn’t right.’ _

Soobin immediately opens his eyes back up and steps away from Beomgyu. He looks at his friend in disbelief. He can’t believe they were about to kiss.

“Gyu, no, I can’t do this to Kai. I’m sorry.” Soobin immediately runs to grab his bag, sparing a look at his friend currently sat back down on the table with his head down. 

“I’ve gotta go now. See you.” He closes the door abruptly.

Beomgyu looks at the flame in front of him before blowing it off. For a moment there, Soobin had put his hands on Beomgyu. They may have not kissed but Beomgyu knows that he had already switched something on inside of his friend. A small spark. There may be a chance that he likes Beomgyu back as well. 

And that’s all Beomgyu needs to start coming up with a plan to set that spark ablaze.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you believe there's only 5 chapters left for this story? Honestly, anything can happen. A little sneak peek for the next chapter: Kai and Soobin will have their date and Yeonjun will have his show, amongst other things. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments and leave a kudos as well if you enjoyed <3 See you in the next chapter!


	8. The Truth, The Lies and The Secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soobin comes clean to Kai about what happened between him and Beomgyu. Tensions rise higher between Taehyun and Yeonjun as the big show comes near. Beomgyu and Soobin both reflect on their pasts and future with each other.

Soobin shakily enters his and Yeonjun’s apartment, carefully closing the door to avoid alerting the older boy of his presence. 

He still can’t believe that Beomgyu and him almost kissed tonight. 

He’s extremely disappointed in himself for not realizing what was happening soon enough. He feels so guilty about letting that happen. He feels like he cheated on Kai even though they aren’t even officially together yet. 

He enters his room and lays down on his bed, sighing deeply. He feels his phone buzz in his pocket and he opens it reluctantly, hoping it wouldn’t be from Beomgyu. 

It was a message from Beomgyu.

“Can we talk tomorrow? I’m so sorry for what happened, I just got caught up in the moment.” The text flashes on the screen. 

Soobin raises his eyebrow. Is Beomgyu telling the truth? As far as he knows, he had no idea whether Beomgyu was even into guys. 

Maybe Beomgyu was right and the both of them just got in too deep with the roleplay and it really didn’t mean anything. Deciding to give his friend the benefit of the doubt, he quickly sends an affirming reply and decide to open his text thread with Kai.

If there’s one thing that’ll cheer him up, it’s his messages with Kai. 

He breaks into a grin as he starts to re-read their messages again. Kai is just one of the funniest, kind, genuine people he knows with the most lovable personality. 

Absolutely everything about him felt like falling in love. Soobin realizes his mind was filled with the boy again and he might not be able to sleep.

But then he realizes one important thing. How the hell is he gonna tell Kai about this? 

Soobin knows himself very well and he knows that this secret will eat him alive if he will keep on hiding it. 

Should he even tell Kai about this? If the both of them are to trust each other, wouldn’t telling the other be good? Soobin’s mind continuously clouded with questions about to how to handle this situation. 

At last, he comes up with a plan to fix this. 

He quickly stands up and grabs his keys, stepping out his apartment again.

Just as he was about to send him a message, Kai got ahead of him first. 

“You still up, hyung?” 

Soobin smiles, his heart beating faster. “Yes. It’s already late, what are you still doing up silly?” 

“I don’t know. Just been thinking a lot lately. Also, I miss you tons.  L ” Kai replies.

“I miss you more, Kai. What have you been thinking about?” Soobin whines, he’d give anything just to comfort this boy right now.

“Been thinking a lot ‘bout you lately. I’m excited and nervous for tomorrow. I was such a wreck a few hours ago but I’m glad my roommate was able to calm me down.” Kai confesses.

“Aw angel…I’m nervous for tomorrow too, in fact I asked one of my friends for help—” Soobin quickly deletes it midsentence, still a bit unsure about what to think of what happened between him and Beomgyu a while ago. 

He tries a second time. “Aw angel…I feel exactly the same way. But don’t worry, I have a good feeling about tomorrow. Especially because I’m going to spend my night with the most beautiful boy.” 

Kai deeply blushes, staring at his screen. This boy was just the most amazing. “That’s strange. I’m also going out with the most beautiful boy tomorrow. Do you think they know each other?”

Soobin laughs, his chest overflowing with giddy and butterflies. “Maybe. We’ll find out tomorrow then huh?” 

“Maybe we will.” 

They continue texting for a while before all of a sudden, his phone starts ringing. 

He quickly answers the call, panicking a bit.

“H—Hello?” 

“Hey, how are you angel?” Kai hears Soobin ask, his nerves immediately calming down after hearing his voice.

“I’m doing alright, hyung. I just can’t sleep. All I want is to see you right now.” He pouts, looking at the clock on his bedstand. 

It was close to midnight. 

“Are you at home?” Soobin asks and Kai’s ears perk up as he picks up a strange tone in his voice.

“Yes…but it’s alright you don’t have to go here y’know.” Kai clutches his phone tightly in beside his ear, desperate to hear Soobin’s voice more clearly.

“Look outside.”

Kai’s heart starts beating faster than before as he hastily moves to his window sill, pulling the curtains to the side.

There on the side of the road in front of their apartment was Soobin, sitting on the hood of his car, his phone pressed to his ear. 

Kai’s breath hitches, “W-what are you doing here?” He asks in disbelief. 

He sees Soobin’s eyes search for the windows in his building before landing on his window. 

Soobin lets out a heartwarming smile, “I just—I missed you so so bad.” He waves at the stunned boy looking at him from above. 

Kai goes silent for a few seconds before shakily replying. “Hold on for a minute.” 

He swiftly changes out of his pajamas into something more casual and hops out of his apartment. He’s out the building in record time, still looking at the boy a few feet from him in disbelief.

Soobin doesn’t waste any second and immediately meets the boy halfway to wrap him up in his arms. Kai immediately reciprocates, burying his face into Soobin’s neck, inhaling his scent. 

The pair stays in that position for a while, not caring about anyone passing the street opposite to them.

Kai reluctantly breaks the hug first and wraps his arms around Soobin’s neck, staring deeply in his eyes. 

“I…I can’t believe you’re really here.” Kai confesses, shyly smiling at the boy above.

Soobin smirks, holding Kai’s waist closer, “Couldn’t really resist myself y’know.” Kai beams back at him, in absolute awe that this boy in front of him was real. 

“Do you want to go somewhere?” Soobin asks him, eyes full of sparkle.

Kai raises his eyebrows. “Are you sure? Isn’t it a bit late?” 

Soobin frowns, “Alright, fine. I’m gonna go home now.” He says, unlatching his arms from Kai’s waist. 

Kai lets out a squeak before holding the boy tighter, “Stop I’m just kidding. Of course, I do.”

Soobin lets out a chuckle and re-wraps his arms around the shorter boy. “Any requests then, mister?” 

 “Anywhere, I don’t care I just want to be with you.” Kai shakes his head, echoing Soobin’s words from a few days ago. This resulted in the other boy flushing deeply, shyly taking Kai’s hand and bringing him to his car. 

Kai reluctantly lets go of Soobin’s hand and hops in the front seat. 

Suddenly, he remembers the last time he was here. It was when something inside of him snapped and made him climb on Soobin’s lap. 

It was definitely a demon or something. 

Kai shivered, his cheeks reddening. He wonders what might have happened if only Soobin’s alarm hadn’t stopped them. 

Soobin looked at him worryingly, placing his hand on Kai’s thigh and giving it a little squeeze. “You okay?” 

Kai snapped out of his trance, face redder than a tomato. “Y—Yes! So um where are we going anways?” He says, trying to ignore the heat emanating from Soobin’s hand seeping into his thigh. 

Soobin smirks at him, turning his face back to the front and turning his car on. “You’ll see.” 

Kai lets himself relax into his seat, and places his hand on top of Soobin’s on his thigh. They sit in comfortable silence as they start driving into the night. 

Kai sneaks a glance at the boy beside him, admiring how the moonlight is reflected on his face, highlighting his features and making his eyes shine as if it was full of stars. He definitely could stare at them for hours, just counting every eyelash and falling deeper into his pools of honey. 

He can feel the hand on his thigh grip tighter as Soobin sneaks a glance back at him and gives him a dizzying smile. 

Kai looks away, caught. He feels like such a high school girl going on dates with her boyfriend. 

Kai had always wondered what it was like to be with a guy. Some of his girl friends in high school had a few boyfriends and they would always tell him how sweet and amazing it would be to have someone to love and hold you dearly. Maybe it was too early but it didn’t matter to Kai. 

Back then, Kai had no idea how that felt so he vowed to find a girl to experience those emotions with.  But, the universe had a different path for him. A handsome, tall boy with gorgeous black hair and the cutest nose entered his life. 

Kai honestly doesn’t even know where all of this is leading. However, it’s the uncertainty that gives the relationship that extra spice. It’s unexpected, unsure and beautiful. 

Kai can feel himself staring off into space with Soobin’s hand the only thing grounding him right now. He feels the car stop and immediately breaks out of his thoughts to stare outside to see where they had ended up. 

“Let’s go.” Soobin coos, taking off his seatbelt for him. 

Kai gets out of the car and the slightly cold air immediately makes his teeth chatter. It doesn’t last for long however as he feels a huge coat wrap around him. He can smell the scent of Soobin everywhere him and it puts him at ease instantly. He closes his eyes and enjoys the transfer of warmth for a while, mumbling a soft ‘thank you’ to the boy in front of him. 

He opens his eyes and his mouth drops at how beautiful the scenery is. 

Beyond the horizon, the moon illuminated the shimmering waves of the clear bay. In the far distance, the silhouette of the skylines pierced through the soft glow like a jagged mountain ridge. Millions of lights caused the dense mass of skyscrapers glitter. It was like looking into space itself. 

Kai notices a beautiful bridge connecting where they are and the city. He tilts his head in amazement, he hadn’t even realized they had drove out of the city. 

He feels Soobin grab his hand, and they start walking to the back of his car which conveniently opens up. 

Soobin then begins to prop some pillows up and throws a big soft blanket over the space, making a makeshift bed. 

He lets go of Kai’s hand and climbs onto his car. After getting himself settled, he pats the space beside him, giving Kai a soft smile.

Kai smiles back and follows him. He sits down on the blanket and immediately feels a shocking amount warmth below him. ‘Must be an electric blanket’ he thinks as he gets comfortable. 

“So, why’d you take me here? You planning to murder me or something?” Kai jokes.

Soobin chuckles, his eyes locked onto the beautiful view in front of him, “Maybe. Sleep and you’re gonna end up in the trunk of my car.” 

They both let out a wheezy laugh before Kai shivers, the cold air still affecting him greatly. Soobin notices and immediately pulls Kai closer to him, his arms wrapping around his waist and placing Kai on his lap. 

Immediately, Kai feels significantly warmer. This boy was like a fucking heater. Kai closes his eyes, wanting to savor this moment forever. 

Soobin shyly grabs Kai’s hands and places them in front of him near his stomach. He rests his head on Kai’s shoulders and presses their cheeks together. 

Soobin remembers the main reason why he wanted to see Kai. To talk to him about what happened between him and Beomgyu. He needs to do this as quickly as possible but at the same time it’s nice to be spending time with him. 

“Are you sure there aren’t any more reasons as to why you took me out of my nice warm apartment?” Kai jokes as a strong wind blows by. 

Soobin’s throat goes dry. “M-maybe. I just needed this cute boy to be with me tonight.” Kai giggles. 

Soobin goes silent for a moment. Is now a perfect time to tell Kai about what happened?

“Actually, I—I have something to confess. I just wanted to come clean about it to you immediately and it’s better if you heard it from me before from anyone else.” Soobin starts, his grip on Kai’s waist tightening. 

Kai twists his head to look at the boy, “What’s wrong?” he asked worryingly. 

Soobin closes his eyes, his mind flashing back to the events that happened earlier tonight. 

“It’s just…I asked a friend of mine to help me out with something. With our date specifically…” 

Kai perks up, “No way! I asked my friend for some help too. I was so nervous, still am.”

Soobin smiles weakly at him, “Me too! Which is why I wanted this friend’s help. And so… we had this fake date set-up.” He takes a deep breath before getting the next words out, “And I almost kissed him at the end.”

Kai feels his heart shatter. Soobin almost kissed someone else? Why did he feel so heartbroken about this? 

He slumps down away from Soobin as he tries to process the new information given to him. 

Soobin blurts out quickly, his hands covering his face. “Kai I am so so sorry. I promise you that it didn’t mean anything. I was just caught up in the heat of the moment. Throughout the date, only you were on my mind. Which is maybe why when my friend tried to kiss me, I almost let him.”

He waits for a response from Kai but the other boy is still silent, head down. 

Soobin fucked up. This is it. Kai is going to leave him after this. He just fucked up his only chance of happiness. 

Close to tears, Soobin was about to apologize again when suddenly he feels a small pair of hands cover his own, before feeling them remove his hands from his face. 

Soobin looks down to see Kai looking up at him with a strange look on his face. Is he mad? Is he okay with it? 

Kai surprises the other boy by embracing him in a tight hug, “It’s okay, Soobin hyung. I trust you.” 

Soobin almost bursted into tears as he grabs the boy back tightly, “I-I don’t know what to say. I don’t deserve you at all.” 

Kai shakes his head and takes a deep breath before burying his head in Soobin’s neck, “Stop it. You made a mistake. We all make mistakes. Just…promise me it won’t ever happen again, please?” 

Soobin rubs Kai’s back fondly, “I promise. In fact, my friend and I are going to have a proper chat about it soon. I promise you that it’ll be alright.” 

Kai lets out a sigh of relief. At first, what Soobin had told him made him go through a rollercoaster of emotions. He had felt jealousy, sadness, anger, guilt. 

‘Why would Soobin try to kiss someone else? Why did he almost do it? Does he not see us as a serious thing? Still, that’s not fair to Soobin when we haven’t even talked about what we are yet.’ 

But then after seeing how incredibly genuine the other boy’s apology was, his heart gave him one single conclusion. 

To forgive the boy. As much as Kai can tell, Soobin genuinely felt bad about doing that to Kai. 

He actually shocked himself with this decision. Old Kai would have probably freaked out and wanted to go back home immediately and never see Soobin again. But this wasn’t the old Kai anymore. 

They sit in silence for a while, just enjoying each other’s presence when a sniffle from Kai breaks the silence. Soobin gently pulls Kai’s face back from his neck, noting the redness spreading from his nose.

“Oh shit, you’re getting a cold. Let’s head back now.” Soobin says worryingly, giving Kai’s forehead a little peck before carrying him bridal style. He places him in the front seat and turns the car heater to the highest setting before settling into the driver seat. 

Soobin then glances at the boy sleeping beside him, his hair all disheveled and his puffy cheeks showing a pinkish hue. He smiles lovingly at him before giving each of his cheeks a soft kiss. 

Kai huffs in his sleep, his cheeks turning even redder before falling back into deep slumber. Soobin chuckles, turns on the car and drives the other boy home.

* * *

Beomgyu lays back in his bed, tired after cleaning up the dinner he had with Soobin. Looking back at it now, he feels a bit dirty for doing that to his friend and especially to someone he had never met before. 

But then again, he also feels that this whole situation is unfair. Does Soobin really not have feelings for him? For all these years, Beomgyu didn’t even know that Soobin liked guys. All it took was one guy to change him? Who even was this guy? Beomgyu wanted to meet him so badly.

He wanted to see who was the guy that stole his Soobin away. 

Throughout the years, Soobin had showed a lot of sides to him in their many years of friendship. Even in his darkest times, Beomgyu has been there for him. 

Beomgyu keeps turning in his bed, he just can’t get Soobin out of his head.

It gets too much after a while. This constant wanting, searching, yearning, for this one person who might not even like you back. 

Does it kill him inside? Yes, it hurts and it pains him repeatedly every single time he talks about the other person. The other person that might never be him. The other person who will always be above him. 

Is he gonna sit still and allow this one person to completely take over what he has been building for a few years? No. Beomgyu wasn’t raised to be a little bitch. He wasn’t raised to let anyone just take whatever from him. 

All through his life he has just been letting these people run over him or take what he loves. And all it has done is given him immense grief and pain. Which is why, now with Soobin, he’s going to do everything in his power to prevent anybody from taking him away from him. 

All he wants is to just be with him. 

Beomgyu knows they have a lot in common. Heck, its why they are best friends. What do Soobin not see in him? Beomgyu knows he’s cute, handsome, smart, charming and more. He just doesn’t understand what he lacks. 

Beomgyu opens up a photo on his camera roll and clicks on his ‘favorites’ album where it’s just pictures of mostly him and Soobin on the gallery. His eyes skim over them, his mind refreshing with a memory every time he comes across a certain pic.

His eyes pick up on one from when they went to a museum. It was on Beomgyu’s birthday and he had been wanting to go to the museum. He knew how much Soobin hated museums mainly because he had a childhood memory of being left there accidentally. But still, he accompanied Beomgyu and they both had such a fun day together. 

Another picture came to Beomgyu’s mind which he will always cherish. It was taken just last year at a beach on the warmer side of the country. They had just finished the finals for their sophomore year and wanted to celebrate by going on vacation. 

Unfortunately, Yeonjun couldn’t join them because he had a show. Soobin’s girlfriend was also out of town according to her. 

But, Beomgyu knows the truth. In fact, he’s known for a while. 

She was seeing someone else behind Soobin’s back. Beomgyu couldn’t believe that someone would ever cheat on Soobin. That someone would be so willing to hurt him. 

When he found out, he couldn’t sleep for nights. He wasn’t sure how to break the news to Soobin knowing he’s going to end up hurt. Eventually, he decided to keep it to himself. Beomgyu was hoping to tell Soobin about it soon so he can confront his girlfriend, unfortunately, his girlfriend broke up with him first and now he haven’t had a chance to bring it up to him again. 

_ ‘It’s probably too late now anyways.’  _ Beomgyu reminds himself.  

Beomgyu tries to shake his guilt away and looks back at the picture on his phone. Soobin had his arm wrapped around the other boy and Beomgyu was looking back up at him with the softest smile. Behind them was a beautiful sunset, with the sea sparkling like diamonds and their campfire just a few meters away. 

He smiles at the memory, remembering how happy they were to just spend time together. It almost felt like they were boyfriends going on a trip together. One thing that stood out from that trip was how they got even closer. Beomgyu remembers snuggling with him when the night got cold and snuffed out their campfire. He can even remember the softest kiss Soobin had planted on his forehead before falling into deep slumber. 

Which is why Beomgyu will never forget that day. 

He closes his phone and stares at the reflection in the black screen. 

He didn’t even realize he was crying. 

He places his palms on his face, feeling the wetness run down his cheeks. He wants that Soobin back. He needs to get that Soobin back. He takes one look at the picture before coming up with a plan. 

He was going to take Soobin back to the beach.

* * *

It was now two days away from the big show. Tensions are high, people are getting restless and it was getting crazier by the minute.

Luckily for Taehyun, he’s been stuck in Yeonjun’s office room the whole day so he doesn’t have to deal with any of that. Anytime the door opens however he gets little glimpses of the chaos happening outside, some costumes keeps getting ripped, people are yelling at each other and there’s even a few coffee cups spilling on the floor.

Yeonjun himself was not excluded from this, from time to time, he would barge inside his office room huffing in anger. Taehyun would immediately try to calm the other boy down, reminding him that it’s just the stress getting to him. 

Yeonjun was very thankful for Taehyun, but he also feels a bit guilty for locking him up in his office. 

Taehyun needs to be able to be exposed to that kind of environment to prepare him for when he will undergo the same thing in the future. At the same time, Yeonjun was a bit apprehensive because of Taehyun’s injury. He didn’t want Taehyun to get hurt again because of his dumb decisions.

“Hyung! Please let me go outside.” Taehyun pouts, his arms crossed. 

Yeonjun shakes his head, pausing for a moment because of the headache he just got from doing that. “I already told you—Ow! No, why can’t you just stay in here.” 

Taehyun smirks at him, “Yeah, you should probably sit down for a while. Lemme get you something to drink.” 

He guides Yeonjun to the sofa before preparing him a cup of tea, but not just any tea, chamomile tea. A.K.A Yeonjun’s sleeping pill.

Taehyun smiles to himself, “If you won’t let me out then can you tell me about what’s happening outside?” 

“Fine. There’s just been a clothing mix up and now Heejin won’t give up her blouse for the dinner scene. She thinks it’s going to be better for the city hall scene.” Yeonjun buries his head on the back of the sofa, groaning loudly. 

“Is that so?” Taehyun slyly hands him the chamomile tea and ushers him to drink it. Taehyun mixed it with cold water enough that it won’t scald Yeonjun’s tongue. 

Mid-drink Yeonjun gasps out, “Taehyun, this is exactly why I won’t be letting you out of this room. This drink isn’t even prepared properly and it doesn’t taste good. What is this drink anyways?” He mumbles, slowly becoming more and more drowsy. 

Taehyun just grabs the cup and makes him drink more of the tea. “Oh nothing, it’s just things like energy boosters, caffeine and other stuff to help you out.” He chirpily replies, placing a pillow behind Yeonjun so he can fall asleep faster

Yeonjun lets out a yawn before making himself comfortable on the pillow. “Wait, why do my eyes feel so heavy…” he drawls out before closing his eyes. 

Taehyun waits for at least 3 minutes before checking if Yeonjun is truly asleep yet. A loud snore coming from the boy immediately confirms his suspicions. 

Taehyun fist pumps the air. He did it! Now he can go outside. He slowly tiptoes out of the room, quickly but carefully shutting the door closed. 

Taehyun turns his back on the door and faces his surroundings. Shredded clothes are on the floor, people are being held apart from each other and a prop design is about to fall out of the ceiling. 

Taehyun lets out a sigh and starts getting to work. 

Yeonjun wakes up a while later, his head feeling much better and his body not hurting as much anymore. He checks his watch and realizes he’s been out for a good two hours. He immediately scrambles out of his seat and his eyes scan the room looking for Taehyun. 

There’s no sign of him in the room. Yeonjun groans, he knows that boy must have sneaked away from him. He lets out an exasperated sigh before grabbing his things and heading outside to their backstage. 

“Alright, let’s transfer that over there! By the flowers,” Yeonjun hears Taehyun yell out. He grabs a chair and sits behind the snack table, grabbing some for his own. He observes Taehyun as he surprisingly commands the whole team well. 

He sees Taehyun talk to one of the actresses and helps her out with some of the lines. He even surprises Yeonjun by saying some of the script without a guide in hand. 

Yeonjun realizes that Taehyun must have memorized some of them after all the different revisions. 

He watches in awe as Taehyun perfectly say his parts, and his diction, his actions, his facial expressions are on point. He truly is born to perform. 

Yeonjun feels even more guilty now, holding Taehyun back from his true potential. He stuffs his face with some chips, trying to diffuse the guilt that’s building up again. 

Taehyun finally spots him by the snack table, his eyes opening wide with the realization that he was just caught. Yeonjun raises his eyebrows and points back to his office room. Taehyun gives him a sulking look but follows him anyways. 

Yeonjun waits by the door holding the handle, waiting for Taehyun to get inside before locking him in. 

“What the hell were you thinking?” Yeonjun sighs, looking at the other boy in disbelief. 

“Are you crazy? I’ve actually been helping people here. And, I’m doing a good job. So, I don’t know why I’m being kept hostage like this.” Taehyun grumbles, crossing his arms. 

Yeonjun rolls his eyes. “You know exactly why I’m making you stay here. I’m keeping you away from harm.” 

“Why do you think you’re doing me a favor by keeping me in here? I never asked you to take care of me! I just want to be out there and help everyone out.” Taehyun spits out angrily. 

“Because I don’t want you getting hurt anymore because of me! Don’t you understand that!?” Yeonjun fires back. 

Taehyun turns his back from him, “Once again, I’m not blaming you for that! Stop with this stupid hero bullshit act you’re trying to pull.” 

Yeonjun can feel his blood boil even more, he grabs Taehyun’s shoulders and spins him around so that he can face him. “You don’t fucking know how I feel about that! The guilt I’m carrying. It was from my orders and you got fucking hurt because of it.” 

“Don’t fucking touch me! Just leave me the fuck alone I can handle myself!” Taehyun pushes Yeonjun back angrily. He looks back regrettingly as Yeonjun’s expression changes. 

He steps closer to Taehyun bringing his face closer to him, “Or what? What are you gonna do?” 

A short moment of silence passes between them before Taehyun angrily pushes him back to the door, pressing his lips to the other boy, hard. 

Yeonjun’s eyes widen before reciprocating the kiss, his hands wrapping around Taehyun’s tiny waist. He lets out a tiny groan as Taehyun deepens the kiss, his face tilting to push their faces even closer. 

Yeonjun kisses back just as hard, the stress and tension from today all coming out through this one kiss. 

They lock lips until Taehyun has to pull back when he feels his lungs start to burn. He pants heavily, slowly looking up at Yeonjun who’s as breathless as he is. 

A moment passes and they press their faces together again, with Yeonjun’s hands coming to rest on Taehyun’s head, holding him in his place tightly. 

Yeonjun pulls back momentarily, “You gonna stay here now like a good boy?” He asks the other boy teasingly. 

Taehyun wraps his arms around Yeonjun’s neck, pinching him a little bit in annoyance before breathlessly telling the other boy to shut up as he chases his lips again. 

Yeonjun lets a chuckle out before meeting Taehyun halfway, focusing on kissing the heck out of the boy he’s holding.

* * *

Soobin groans in his bed, stuffing his face down on his pillows. It was the next day and he has two major things he has to do. One he is looking forward to and the other he’s absolutely dreading. 

Unfortunately, the one he’s dreading, the meeting with Beomgyu is going to take place earlier today compared to his date with Kai. 

Soobin prays to all gods and goddesses out there that both activities would go well. But as it has been proven multiple times: the Universe hates him. There’s no doubt he’ll find a way to fuck this day up. 

He scrambles out of bed groggily and proceeds to prepare for his talk with Beomgyu. 

He actually has no idea how it will go. For one thing, he’s hoping Beomgyu will apologize to him for attempting to kiss him despite knowing he was going to a date tomorrow with another guy. But then again Soobin admits that he also was at fault for almost reciprocating that. 

Soobin and Beomgyu had been friends for only a few years but they’ve already gotten very close. Like really close friends. So, it really surprised him that Beomgyu was acting this way. 

Could Beomgyu possibly like guys as well? He had never opened up about anything like that to Soobin. But then again, neither has he. 

Soobin thought of opening up about it one time when they were at the beach together. It as after exams in their sophomore and it was meant to celebrate the end of their finals. Unfortunately, t was just the two of them because Yeonjun was unavailable and Soobin’s girlfriend couldn’t go at that time. 

It had been messing with Soobin’s mind for a while, the possibility of liking a boy. He felt a bit weirded out for even considering it especially since he only had a thing for girls ever since he was young. But he just can’t ignore these new feelings he’s having recently whenever he sees a cute boy. 

Which is why, when Beomgyu accompanied him to the beach that day, it was a lot harder to ignore his feelings. Like, a lot harder.

Back then, he had a thing for Beomgyu. It was maybe just a little crush. 

Who could blame him? Beomgyu was extremely handsome, funny, smart, caring and all other good qualities. But there were two major obstacles: the first was that Soobin had a girlfriend at that time, of 3 years to be exact. It would be extremely horrible to even think about leaving her for a small crush. The second obstacle was that Soobin didn’t know whether Beomgyu liked guys as well, when they would talk about relationships, he had always mentioned girls and nothing about guys. 

Which is why, as much as the day spent with Beomgyu made him so happy and giddy, he really was unable to get his true feelings out and come out to Beomgyu. He’s absolutely terrified of destroying the tight friendship between them. 

Soobin remembers fondly how they snuggled for warmth by the campfire that night, and even closer when the fire got snuffed out. He had gotten so so close on telling Beomgyu everything. But one look at the other boy made him realize that he couldn’t let a simple crush ruin everything. 

So, he did what everyone does to try to get rid of a crush. 

He distracted himself with other stuff for a while, luckily his internship at the hospital was starting soon so he had a reason as to why he couldn’t hang out with Beomgyu very often. So that’s what he did, he distanced himself from Beomgyu slowly by slowly up until he had gotten rid of the tiny crush. 

Soobin was so anxious. He was nervous that Beomgyu would leave him. That one day he would tell Soobin off for being a bad friend and for being gone most of the time. 

But, Beomgyu never questioned his absence. He was a good friend, he wanted Soobin to do well at his internship. Even texts everyday were enough for him. 

Soobin felt bad and immediately did his best to make up for all the time they had lost together. But now, things were different, Soobin no longer feels that much strongly towards Beomgyu. Things went milder surprisingly. Soobin didn’t know if he should be happy or sad but all that matter is that he got his friend back. 

And he never wanted to lose his friend ever again. 

Soobin tapped on his knee worryingly. He was at the coffee shop now where he was supposed to meet with Beomgyu, an iced Americano in his other hand. 

After a few more minutes, he feels a tap on his left shoulder, causing him to glance at his friend. 

Beomgyu gives him an awkward wave and sits opposite of him. Soobin smiles back hesitantly, not sure how to start this. 

“Do you want a drink?” Soobin asks him, raising the americano in his hand. 

Beomgyu’s lips twitch into a smile, “No, it’s okay. I uh really just want to get this out of the way as fast as possible.” 

Soobin swallows nervously. _‘Here we go…’_

Beomgyu places his hands on the table and looks at Soobin carefully, “Look, hyung, I just want to apologize for my behavior last night. It was not cool of me to do that, especially since you have a boyfriend now. It’s my mistake.” 

Soobin blushes, Kai and him haven’t really talked about any labels yet but hearing _‘you have a boyfriend now’_ from someone else sent chills up his spine. The good kind of chills. 

He wants to be Kai’s boyfriend and he wants to call Kai his boyfriend. So so badly. 

Soobin lets out a breath he didn’t realize he’s been holding and gives the other boy a reply. “Gyu, it’s okay. We…were both just a little drunk and we didn’t realize what we were doing.” He sees a look flash on Beomgyu’s face but he can’t pinpoint what it was. 

Beomgyu gives him a nod, looking Soobin in the eyes. “Thank you. I do hope we’re cool now.” 

Soobin smiles back, “We are. Don’t you worry.” 

“By the way, are you going to Yeonjun’s show tomorrow?”

“Of course! I’m bringing Kai with me. He definitely needs to go to one of Yeonjun’s shows.” Soobin chuckles. Beomgyu’s eye twitches at the mention of Kai. 

A thought pops into his head. 

“Maybe we all could have dinner after the show? You know to celebrate the show and for everyone to meet and stuff.” Beomgyu cautiously asks the other boy. 

Soobin hums in response, a bit unsure about the idea. “I uh don’t know Gyu, do you think it will be a good idea for Kai and you to be in the same room?” 

Beomgyu almost chokes on his saliva, “What do you mean, hyung?” He nervously asks, wondering if he was more obvious than he looks. 

Soobin bites his lip, “Last night, I uh kinda went to Kai and told him about what happened between you and me…” 

Beomgyu’s eyes goes wide as saucers, “You what?! Why did you think that was a good idea?” 

Soobin raises his hands in defense, “Look, I-I’m sorry but it’s just something that I can’t keep for myself. Plus, he took it very well. And I promised him that nothing like that will ever happen again.” Soobin continues, “I was quite surprised honestly, I thought he was going to leave me on the spot. But I definitely need to be more cautious next time to never hurt him again.” 

If this were a cartoon, there would have been a big lightbulb right above Beomgyu’s head. Oh, he definitely had a plan brewing. A big one. 

Beomgyu leans forward and props his chin up using his arms. “Hyung, since he knows about it already, it’s more reason as to why we should meet so I can properly apologize to him as well. Please, because the guilt is killing me too…” Beomgyu pleads, pouting his face. 

Soobin chews on his lips, pondering. “Alright alright, but you better behave. I don’t want him to get jealous of anything.” Soobin adds teasingly. 

Beomgyu chuckles and swats Soobin’s arm. “In your dreams. Now go on with your date, and don’t forget the things I taught you.” 

“I won’t. I’ll see you tomorrow I guess.” Soobin says while standing up with Beogmyu nodding at him as a reply back. 

Soobin lets out a sigh of relief the moment he’s outside of the coffee shop. That went better than expected. But now, he’s a bit nervous about tomorrow. What’s going to happen when Beomgyu and Kai meets? 

Soobin shakes his head trying to get rid of the thoughts forming in his head before checking his phone for the time. 

He notices a text from his Kai. 

** “Hyung? I’m almost done dressing up here. Maybe you can pick me up in about 15 minutes? I can’t wait to see you ^_^ <3” **

Soobin beams at his phone. This boy was just the cutest.  

He realizes that he can think about all these problems later. For now, he had a beautiful boy to meet somewhere. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO! I'm sorry for taking this long. I'm currently doing my thesis research and it's taking up most of my time. Luckily my new schedule is allowing me to work on this story. Thank you all for your nice comments! It's the best at motivating me to finish this story. Please leave a kudos or a comment telling me what you think about this chapter and what do you think will happen next. <3


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